Question:
Hi all,
I'de like to start by saying what a great place this is, I've learned a great deal here..
I really want to get into the trucking buisness!
I've had my CDL since 1999 which I got through a carrier, though I never made it through their otr training becouse of a bad trainer. I have been driving a straight truck since then and love driving very much. I've done alot of research and have some companies in mind, but, whenever I get ready to send in apps I get this queesy feeling in my stomach...What is this???
Is it just nervessness about the change in careers
or not being home al the time or leaving my wife at home alone or maybe that bad trainer left a scar that acts up when I think about getting back in the truck????? I can't seem to get a handle on it. If anyone can help I'de really appreciate it.
Thanks to all who reply in advance

Answer:
Depends on a lot of things. May be that your left brain is telling your right brain something that it just doesn't want to hear.
Perhaps youre making a good wage now with some bennies and that new otr job isnt going to come close to matching these. Your brain should be talking to you.
Perhaps being home most nights is getting in the way of roaming the hiways for a few weeks on end before being allowed home time.
Perhaps you really want to see your kids grow up and participate in this instead of watching the children at the t/s counter grow up(never).
Perhaps its the notion that youre gonna get that call from your wife while your a thousand miles from home where she says she's planning on having an orgasm and she'd like you to be present for this one.
There's any number of reasons from which you can suffer the butterflies.
If it doesn't feel good.....don't do it.

Answer:
Tinytim it's probably everything you mentioned and more. Doesn't sound to me like your really ready to go out. If not you'll do yourself more harm than good. You'll end up back home without a job or income.
If trucking isn't sitting right with you then you need to take the time to find out whats going on. Take a long hard look and make a smart decision. Another point is that you have no OTR or TT experience. You may find it hard to get a OTR job without, at the least, a refresher course and back out with a trainer again. Can you afford the course and a couple of months or more with very low pay?
For lots of people that have families they're use to going home to everynight trucking can be very hard. On both of you. I've watched wives helping their husbands unload their trucks and have talked with them. Trucking is simply not easy to do for alot of people. Families however understanding they may be at first just like some drivers, change. Most family people just don't like being away from each other. That in itself can be a scary thought.
If I didn't think it was right or it just became hard to make that decision. I would look at other opportunities for a career.
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it"

Answer:
Its most likely your stomach telling you what it will be like when U live off of canned tamales , and chili dogs for a year............Good luck bro

Answer:
It has took me a long time to learn that but it has saved my butt quite a few times.
Good luck.
Xpresser
"ONE LIFE"

Answer:
...."Trust your instinct".
That's so true, and it's something drivers appreciate more and more as their career progresses. There is indeed a feeling -- I call it a 'little voice in your head' -- that proceeds many bad decisions or difficult situations. You learn to appreciate it through hindsight, I think.
How many times do we find ourselves saying, "I KNEW I shouldn't have....". I wouldn't be surprised if it actually involves a little bit of supernatural insight to the future sometimes. We've all had the occasional experience of just 'knowing' something was going to happen, and it did.
But sometimes, especially with past traumatic experiences, you can mistake this instinct for what's actually more of a phobia -- an unrealistic fear that defies logic and reality.
You went through a very stressful, humiliating experience with your training carrier, sounds like, and your instinct is doing what it's supposed to do -- discouraging you from exposing yourself to a possible repeat.
Filling-out the application and returning to an otr company to try again, may be more like getting back on the horse that threw you.
Are you prepared to do what it takes to not pi**-off the horse?
Can you 'hold on' better this time?
If so -- just suck it in and climb back on. Your fear is natural. You just have to overide it to accomplish your goal.
But frankly, I wouldn't. You got a family and a local driving job -- maybe not be the greatest job, but it puts you home where you belong.
Even if you get a better trainer and go with the flow a little better this time, you STILL have a major conflict between living on the road 26 days a month, and your personal life. The fact that you even question the wisdom of leaving your family at home while you live on the road, is a bad sign.
Given this conflict, I wouldn't do it just to prove something to yourself -- to accomplish some 'unfinished business' with your ego.
My (never be humble) analysis You've got TWO issues:
Your instinct about failing on the job again is unrealistic - of course you can make it this time, if your willing to give it what it takes.
Your instinct about potential problems at home is VERY realistic -- a good, logical reason you shouldn't pursue otr.