No Support

Hello all! My question is do anyone have support issues from family and friends when you started your truck driving career?

I think all of us have dealt with some lack of support from family. Trucking is looked down upon in our society, so the average misinformed person usually thinks that trucking is beneath them.

Personally, when I pitche'd the idea my dad told me I wouldn't make it. It's for adults and I wouldn't survive, it was a stupid idea and I'm wasting my time.

Cousin #1 said I'm taking the easy way out of college.

Cousin #2 didn't say anything, but her body language told me more than I wanted to know.

It didn't really hurt, but it sure did **** me off. There's no better motivation than to prove people wrong. I went to school with a vengeance to prove to my dad that he didn't know me as well as he thought he did. And to show the rest of my family just how awesome this job is and how they're wasting a decade of their life to do something that will bore them to death.

Almost two years later and I'm an Instructor/Trainer and making almost twice more than my dad is.

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut. When I joined the USAF in 1973 I was a huge disappointment to my Dad. He was a WWII Marine and so figured I was making a HUGE mistake. It took about 2 years for him to realize I was doing OK. Vietnam had a little bit to do with that, too.

Anyway, I have support from my spouse and kids (grown), but with an adult special needs son at home I may have to get back on a local schedule sooner than I expected. We'll see.

Blue collar type work, trucking included, does not have much cache'. But, as Daniel has mentioned, the earnings are there if you are serious about making driving your career.

With my family, its sort of a hot/cold situation. When I started going to school, my parents were happy. But when I did it, and didn't get my license, it felt like my dad was ripping me a new one. Told me to go get a class B license instead of an A. I felt of a hating vibe bouncing off of him when he told me that crap! Well, right now, I'm on my own with this, and I will prove his a** wrong and make him eat his words. I mean, I spoke with a couple of truckers in personal plus on this site, and told me getting a class B was a pointless idea. On that, I agree 100%. I'm waiting on an aquaintance to finish his truck up to give me a one on one lesson.

I had total support from everyone I discussed it with. But I only discussed it with my wife since she is the only one who's opinion matters to me. Well the opinions of my children matter but two are out of the house and my youngest will soon graduate high school. Once my wife and I had settled on it then my kids where informed and I received their support as well.

Trucking is exactly like Daniel said. Everyone looks down on it because no one understands what it takes to do it well. On one hand I understand it when you look at the way the majority of truckers present themselves. But on the other hand it baffles me how a profession that is so very important to virtually every aspect of the country is so widely hated.

Woody

I only had support from my brother and mom. My dad and just about everyone else thought I had flipped my lid when I made the decision to walk away from Information Technology. My girlfriend left me pretty much on the spot, and while it hurt initially, she freed me up to try a new adventure. I have had something of an epiphany about life and not staying in situations that are miserable or distasteful. I walked away from the career because I HATE the office and I LOVE to travel. I don't consider myself to be a "people" person, instead I am a "person" person. I can get along well with individuals or in very small groups and I'm feline-like to the extent that I'm more solitary leaning. The bottom line is do what you need to do to make your life fulfilling. I had to learn to stop pretending to be somebody that I'm not. I'm not white collar, I'm blue collar to the core and happy as all get-out about it.

I have a few family members who think i am making a big mistake in going into this field b/c i have ADHD. I listen and respect there opinions but I dont let that stop me. I let it motivate me. I am going to respectfully prove them wrong.

I plan on going blue and white collar. Sure, I drive a truck. It also gives me mobility and a good back up salary. In addition to trucking, I work in finance. So what people think about trucking or truckers for that matter is usually far from the truth. My old man always told me "Opinions are like *******s, everybody has one." Still one of my favorite quotes to this day.

When I decided to go to trucking school, my entire family was skeptical and my father insisted that this was a job for people that were not smart enough to do anything else. He made me feel terrible about my decision and constantly tried to suggest other job ideas which all sounded baseless and ridiculous.

After I graduated and got my cdl (just last month) I explained to him how there is always a job available if you have a clean record and a cdl in hand. I also showed him some of the trucking company prehires and how much I could possibly earn each year. After showing him my reasons for choosing trucking, he has seemed to have changed his mind and is now very supportive of my trucking career. I have always been fascinated by the Big Rigs on the road, and I love driving them so hopefully this will be the perfect career for me. I don't think people understand that you can make a decent living off of trucking, they mainly focus on the negative stereotypes people have about being a truck driver. Just follow your dreams and ignore the naysayers.

Oh yeah, my girlfriend said she was breaking up with me about my decision also. Now that I have my cdl and I told her about the decent jobs I could get out there. She is now talking about getting back together and going out with me again. It was really sad how little support I had when I started school. Now it seems people are forgetting everything they had said before.