Being in such a business where you have to spend weeks or even months away from home can be very challenging. Everyone wants to provide for their family while enjoying quality time with them. However, when you are a trucker, you might find it difficult to create a balance between work and personal life.
Being a trucker, you might know how to tackle the Motor carrier authority and its laws but you may struggle to connect with your family from whom you have been away for a long time. If you want to be emotionally and physically available for your family while earning a livelihood through the trucking business, then here are some effective tips that can help you manage the situation.
- Look For Local Owner Operator Jobs
You might find plenty of advertisements showing a company requiring an expert owner-operator for their trucks. You can fully utilize this opportunity to get a step closer to your family. When you are working as an owner-operator as compared to working for someone else’s company, you can manage your work more easily.
Being an owner-operator means that you can decide how much workload you can handle and which route will be the best and quickest. This way you can schedule more frequent visits with your family.
- Schedule Your Routes
You should consider scheduling your routes in such a way that if your home falls in the way, you have enough time to meet with your family. Scheduling your routes can have tremendous advantages.
You can include your family in scheduling your trips and see if the time is feasible for you to visit your spouse and the kids.
- Utilize Technology To Manage Work And Life
Today, technology has proven itself as a useful tool to create a work-life balance. You can use technology for your benefit as well. For work, you can use various mobile applications and software to manage data, clients, orders, and shipments. This can significantly reduce your labor work.
Similarly, you can use technology to get closer to your family when you are away at work. For example, you can use mobile phones and tablet devices to connect with your family through voice calls or video calls. You can read bedtime stories to your kids or talk to your spouse about their life.
- Be Present When You Are Home
One great way of establishing a healthy relationship with your family when you are a trucker is to be emotionally, physically, and mentally present with your family when you are home. When you are away from work, let the work be away from you. Try to spend more time with your kids and spouse.
You can take your family out for dinner, help your spouse organize your home, and be active with your kids. Talk to them and find out about the happenings of their lives. This way you can have a stronger bond with your loved ones, even when you have to go away for a few weeks.
- Be Emotionally Available
Being emotionally available to your family and work can help you create a balance between the two lives. Know that when you are at work, you should focus more on work and less on homesickness. However, you should also know that you are working for your family. If you are not available to your family, they might not need you.
Therefore, make sure that you call your family regularly. Talk to your kids individually and listen to their wishes, complaints, and whatever they have to say. Make plans for your next visit home so that they are excited about your presence.
- Find Common Grounds
Another great way of balancing your work and personal life is by finding common ground in both. For instance, when you are at work, you can learn things or buy things that you can gift your loved ones on your next trip.
Similarly, you can take something from each family member to remember them by and put these keepsakes in your truck’s cabin. It will motivate you to work harder while remembering your loved ones. When you are home, connect with your kids through their hobbies, such as playing football with your son or a tea party with your daughter.
