There is no doubt that
if you choose driving as a career there will be personal sacrifices
you will have to make. Long haul work requires an investment of your
time that is necessary to get the job done. Let's face it, I can't
drive to Winnipeg and home every week if I'm looking for a job with a
40 hour work week. Common sense dictates that you will never be happy
in your work as a professional long haul driver if your mind is
constantly craving to be at home or dwelling on the frustrating
elements of this work that pop up on a regular basis. There are
options of course. You can still drive locally or regionally to
reduce or eliminate having to sleep in your workplace. That been
said, you don't have to give up all of your personal aspirations and
goals on your bucket list just because you drive long haul for a
living, nor should you.
You have to be careful
in this industry not to allow others to possess total control of your
time. A good example of this is the carrier that operates on the
basis of maxing out a drivers 70 hour work week. We should always
remember, especially if you are new to this industry, that the 70/7
day driving maximum was put in place as a safety standard not an
employment standard that employers can force their employees to meet
as they see fit. Finding a balance that keeps you fit both mentally
and physically while reaping the benefits of the freedom and joy this
driving lifestyle can bring you is truly the sole responsibility of
the individual driver. There are times when you need to say no to the
freight and say yes to some personal time in order to look after
yourself. Your employer can benefit from that decision just as much
as you will. After all a happy & healthy driver is a productive
driver.
This point was driven
home to me after working out at my health club the other day. First
let me give you a little background. If you visit me in this space
with any regularity you know that I stepped on the road to health and
fitness a decade ago and it is an important part of my daily life. I
put the time I need each day to care for myself at the top of my
priority list and it changed my life. But I always struggled in the
winter months to maintain my fitness. The cold and snow I encounter
on the road to Winnipeg every winter is not conducive to walking or
running. So I decided to join a fitness club this past winter to
maintain my health. It's a national club with locations in cities I
drive through regularly. A perfect solution for the winter months.
I work with a personal
trainer at my home club and for the past two sessions we were
stepping into the next phase of my training, searching for the
perfect resistance on each machine that would see me not quite able
to lift the weight on the last couple of repetitions on the last set
of exercises for each muscle group. On the squat machine this
happened to be 100 lbs of weight. As I was driving to Winnipeg the
following day it hit me that I had almost lost 100 lbs of weight off
my body since the autumn of 2001. Ten years ago that 100 lbs was a
burden that I carried with me everyday. With a family history of
heart disease I was a ticking time bomb and it was then that I set a
goal of reaching a good state of overall health by age 50. I not only
met that goal I surpassed it and continue to reach new highs that ten
years ago would have seemed more like fantasy to me than a realistic
set of goals. In effect that 100 lb burden I carried on my body has
become a level of resistance that is now contributing to my health
and well being. What a beautiful example of how taking a little time
for yourself can benefit you over the long run. I'll remember this
every time the thought “I don't have time” arises in my mind.
So, were the times I've
had to say no the the freight in order to have some personal time to
fulfill my own personal goals been worth it? You bet they have. Has
my employer benefited from these results? Of course they have.
As professional
drivers we need to take possession of our time and not allow others
to dictate its terms of use. I'm convinced this is the path to a
balanced life on the road. Nobody else will do this for us.
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