Peace of Mind

When you leave home to go over the road there might be some things that you can do to help the loved ones that you leave behind have peace of mind and feel more secure even though you are gone.

Having this peace of mind is very important and could make the difference between the relationship slowly deteriorating or remaining healthy.

If you have some ideas to add please leave them below.

Like and share this information if you think it is valuable to others!

Family Resource List

Make a list of all of the trusted people that you would use in the event of problems. Plumber, electrician, doctor, mechanic (I know), other house maintenance that can't wait, etc.

This way when a problem arises there is not stress, waste of time or delay from deciding on what to do or who to see.

Car Care Plan

If there is a trusted mechanic that you normally use or would use let your spouse know who that person is and where the shop is located. If the relationship is good, even let the mechanic know what the situation is.

If the car has dependability issues consider getting it fixed before leaving. If getting it fixed is not an option the get AAA or family shield 360 so that if the car breaks down, it will not leave your loved ones stranded. It can be towed to a mechanic or to the house.

Meanwhile make a plan and set aside a few dollars every paycheck to go toward fixing the car permanently.

Emergency Plan

Emergencies can be anything that are not planned for or actually expected to happen. Well we want to try and thing of some of those possibilities in advance so they are not true emergencies but just inconveniences, you will get enough unpredictable emergencies to deal with in life.

What is the course of action needed in each case? Who will be called to assist. Where will the family go to for safe shelter? Have a contact person and his/her information programmed in the phone and a good location in the home. Also make sure you have the information over the road with you. (also get some extra keys made. You decide on what to do with them, lol)

Disaster Plan

Depending on where you live, this could be very important. All of use should actually have some type of disaster plan made up. For some people say like Alabama, Mississippi Missouri and Kansas, this much more important than for others.

You have so many tornadoes and powerful storms.

But these days there are many potential disasters. You also have domestic and international terrorist threat possible to occur and other unpredictable emergencies. Suppose there is a huge gas line explosion and he are much evacuate?

So there needs to be a plan about where the family would go in the event of a need to evacuate. There should be a kit/bag prepared with food, water, first aid, medicine prescriptions, copies of important documents, keys and other living necessities to quickly grab and go.

Think of that trusted friend or family member both locally and out of state that would take you in temporarily and make plans with them now before a disaster strikes.

Road Map of Your Career

This is very important for family at home. Especially when a wife did not expect you to be an over the road trucker. It is important for everyone. It helps you have direction and goals to work toward. Determine exactly where is it you are trying to go with trucking. Do you want to be a company driver all of your life or buy a couple of trucks? Do you want to eventually drive locally?

Do you want to be completely off the road in 10 years?

All of these things are doable if you think about hem in advance. Find out what it takes in order to make your dreams and goals a reality. Then set the plans in place on what you need to have accomplished each year in order to get you closer and closer to your goal, whatever it is.

This will help you stay on track with the things that you might need to do.

For instance is you want to come off the road in 10 years. You know you want to save every dime. You want to not create new debt. Build credit. Follow the laws so that you can get the highest paying trucking jobs to make more money, etc.

This is going to help you have discipline because you are working toward something.

What is your why? To spend more time with the family. To be at home when your child is in high school, to travel the world with your wife, to find a wife, etc. There will be different motivators for different people but you need to find out what yours is for reaching your goals in trucking and life.

Family Counseling

If there are problems in the relationship, don't hesitate in finding someone to talk to. A lot of people don't like the idea of counseling. Think about this, how much were you taught about interpersonal communication prior to becoming an adult and as an adult?

How much were you taught about building healthy relationships, proper perspective, empathic listening? Most people are not even familiar with some of these terms. We most certainly do not know how to practice what these terms mean and combined they are key elements of a good strong relationship.  And guess what not just intimate relationships but all relationships.  (Like with your dispatcher, broker, the dealing with DOT, etc)

Counseling or coaching will bring in a 3rd party to help each of you get a birds eye view of how to look at things differently and improve on how you see things and treat each other. Don't worry, you won't be sitting in a class room learning any terms but you will be learning how to do much of what the terms mean.

How many times do you say one thing and mean another? How many times to you expect one thing and get another? How often to you assume instead of asking? How often is your expectations dictated by your past experiences without you even knowing it? (trick question, you don't even know but often, lol) So we spend to much time mad, disappointed, blaming each other and full of resentment to express our true feelings or try to understand why the other person feels the way he or she does.

This leads to a relationship falling apart instead of forming a tighter bond.

They tend to call it irreconcilable difference or losing interests sometimes.  Often it is the result of being incompatible in the first place or not knowing how to nurture the relationship during the maturity phase.  (In my opinion based on seeing how little we understand effective communication)

So if you find that things are not so great while you are together, leaving for the road is probably not the solution to peace of mind. Consider family, marriage, relationship counseling or coaching to help improve if you care about the relationship.

Note:  There are books and audio which could also help if.  Especially if both people are open to personal development and making necessary changes.  Five Love Languages is One of those books.

Protect Your Home

Home protection is very important for peace of mind.  I believe that feeling of being vulnerable could weigh heavy on the relationship neither person realize it. 

Try this test.  Ask your spouse does she feel safe at home alone.  This might tell you all that you need to figure out how to quickly improve the peace of mind at home.  Which might in term make being a truckers wife and over the road trucker's life a little less stressful.  Happy Trucking!

More about Protecting your home here...

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