Truckers: Make Time to Enjoy the Summer

1. Truckers: Make Time to Enjoy the Summer Memorial Day has come and gone. Independence Day is now history as well. You know what that means; summer is now here in full force. For the next couple months, truck drivers will have the benefit of enjoying plenty of sunshine, warmer temperatures, and the knowledge that people seem to be a lot less stressed at this time of year. Don’t fail to be one of those people. Make some time to enjoy summer rather than allowing the pressure of your job steal it from you. Winter driving is tough enough having to worry about bad weather and all that comes with it. Summer should be just the opposite. If your stress level during the winter months is exceptionally high, make a point of avoiding stress as much as possible during the summer. You will be much more productive as a result. Summer Is About Getting Outside If you are old enough to remember spending your summer vacation from school without social media, video games, and countless hours using electronic devices, you also probably remember a day and age in which kids spent their summers outdoors. Friends would get together to play all sorts of games. They would go on neighborhood adventures from dawn to dusk. Why? Because summer was all about getting out of the classroom and being outside. As a truck driver, you are still cooped up ‘inside’ during work hours. You have an advantage over the office worker inasmuch as your cubicle is a rolling cubicle with great views out the front windshield, but you’re still stuck inside that truck for 8 to 10 hours per day. You need to get outside during the summer months. When you are parked for the day, do not spend all your downtime in the sleeper berth. Remember, you only have to have eight consecutive hours in the berth. Those other two hours can be spent elsewhere. We recommend getting out and walking around. If you can manage to find a safe, parking space in a location where nature is abundant, go take a walk and enjoy your surroundings.

2. Share Summer with the Kids Another wonderful thing you can do during the summer is share it with your kids. Take a camera with you so that you can stop along the way and take pictures of some of the things you see. Send those pictures back to the kids via e-mail or social media, along with messages to pique their interest. There was a TV commercial that ran over the winter months (perhaps you saw it) showing a truck driver collecting rocks for his daughter. Each rock was labeled with the state from which it came. That’s a great idea. You can grab things from your destinations and build a collection for your kids. Keep in touch with a journal that tells the kids what you will be bringing with you when you come home. Let them participate in your summer and encourage them to include you in theirs. Make the Most of Your Job There are plenty of other ideas truck drivers can employ for making the most of summer. The two ideas here are just suggestions to get you thinking in that direction. Our main point is this: do not let yet another summer pass you by without you actually enjoying it. As a truck driver, you have the unique ability to be out and about while others are limited to their office buildings and warehouses. Make the most of that ability. And if you are looking for a change, why not come drive for C.R. England?