Beef............I'm certain your mother loves you very much, BUT, you need to have a life of your own........too bad your not "Gay" (nothing wrong if you were in my opinion), she would have you where she wanted you, controling your life..........your reply sort of reminded me of a Roger Waters and David Gilmour song.........btw, there is NOTHING better than having a close family, thats what life is all about.

That being said, have you ever seen a mother bird trying to kick the baby bird off the nest, so it will learn to fly on it's own...........it's not always easy, but, it must be done in order for the baby bird to survive.........tell your mother you love her, but, LET GO..............dude, you need to get out on your own.......

As far as having a college degree, all that tells me, is that you are a good student......just being honest there.....as far as life and work experiences, you have nothing to offer.........my suggestion, find something you enjoy where you can make a living, go sell yourself to the powers to be, get your foot in the door..then PROVE yourself............trucking will be here when you finish your career...................that is exactly what I did, trucking OTR enabled me to graduate from College, find a career I LOVED, sold the Cpmpany I started almost 20-years ago....now I drive a truck, because I want to, not because I have to......there is a huge difference......and am happier than I've been in years........best of luck to you.

BTW............my father use to call me in jest, an EDUCATED IDIOT!!! :lol: :lol:
I would give everything I owned, just to hear him say that one more time. :sad: :sad:

 

Great song AFF :lol:

 

Worse, why is it worse? Got my BA in History in May 1979, started my first otr job in August 1979, haven't looked back since, history is the past, just can't seem to remember how Sherman got his cavalry past the Gates of Thermopylae, must be them exhaust fumes. :lol: :lol:

 

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the input...

I dont think you folks realize what my mom and I have been through, she has been a great mom and really helped me through some rough times, and I have promised to always be there for her...

but I do appreciate all the input, you folks have helped me a lot!

 

You can still be there for her, but you're not a child anymore. She can't expect you to sacrifice your adulthood for her. Come on, man! Get outta there and get on with your life! 8)

 

Another college grad here who found that he could earn more money and gain more existential edification and "real world" education "captaining" a Freightliner all across the vast expanse of a continent than in my chosen academic degree field. You've seen that film "The Big Picture" with Kevin Bacon, right? There's the one scene where he is trying to get a job as a waiter and tells the manager that he's "a film director." The manager replies off-handedly, "Oh yeah? Jimmy our bus-boy's a film director." You can substitute "film director" with just about any non-technical Bachelor's-level degree (most particularly your liberal arts degrees) and it fits just as well. Of course, if all you went to college for was just to get a degree just to get a job, then you missed out on the point of college altogether. College... at least for me personally... was more spiritual than anything else. But then again, education.... englightenment... comes in all forms. In all honesty, the three years I spent living, moving and having my being out on the highways of our nation were just as "Educational" (perhaps even more so...?) as any book I ever read, any test I ever took, or any professor's lecture I ever sat through.

Life is what it is, man. It is what you make it. You put 100% of yourself into anything, win, lose, or draw.... you will always get 100% back out of it. Life is amazingly proportional in that way. Follow your bliss. If it is wandering across the vast expanse of a continent through light of day and dark of night, through sun, wind, rain, and snow, then get after it and never look back. Real Education goes far far beyond the pages of a book or the confines of a classroom. For damned sure you will get one helluva Education out there on the highways.

If you really want to do that, I say go for it. If things don't work out for you out there , however, at least be a man about it and don't cry about it. If there is anything sacred in Life, along with such verities as family, God, Love, etc... then WORK also has to go in there as well. You spend more time at work... in the case of your future professional direction... certainly damned more... 24/7... either holding a steering wheel in your truck or sleeping in it, than in just about any other profession.... than you even do with your friends, family, etc. For some folks, the lifestyle... you can't really call it just a job... gets addicting... almost like a kind of religious calling, a sense of everything clicking into place and somehow fitting, for others, however, it is almost intolerable. It becomes just a kind of "Rolling Incarceration" trapped in a large metal box day-in, day-out. Of course, you won't ever know how it will be to you without getting out there and doing it.

Just keep in mind the story of the boy who went out for wool and came back shorn. Sometimes some get Experience, and some get Experienced.

 

I'm back after a hellish experience at an Ohio trucking school that I will NEVER recommend to anyone. I didn't pass my CDL on the first try, but plan to keep plugging away at it until I do. The school said it would work with me in order to pass, and I plan to go there and practice. I'm supposed to take it again in the school's truck sometime next week before Thanksgiving.

I have plenty to say about this horrible school, but will refrain from doing so until I pass my CDL, get going with my company, and so forth.

You never know until you try. I may hate trucking, but there is not much else to choose from where I live. If I get my bills paid off, I'll be able to live on a podunk job here, but I'm hoping I love trucking and can stay in it for a few years, at least.

I'm single and don't have kids; I plan to take my dog with me. Home is not a real happy place, and neither is my hometown. So we'll give trucking a try. Hope it works out. I'm in need of a break (a good break) in my life.

 

Don't know if this thread is still alive but I'll toss in my 2 cents.

At 25 years old, I would NOT go into trucking. You're better off going for a Master's in a white-collar field . . . even if you need a second Bachelor's Degree to get it.

Truck driving pay sucks. Especially when looking at the hours. (BTW, if it sucks, why am I doing it? Because I've got a great retirement income to supplement my truck driving pay, both kids are off in college, my wife and I are free to do what we want and we want to drive around the country.)

It's a great second career . . . not a first. You need to think about where you want to be 20 years from now. To be well-off, you need to think about making $80-100K per year by the time you're 30. Or put it this way. You need to be able to afford a large mortgage on a nice house in a good school district and sock away money for your retirement and kid's college.

Trucking pays . . . but it doesn't pay that well.

As to the physical.

If you have anxiety about visiting a physician, then you need to see a counselor and find out why. Phobias, anxieties and other "issues" need to be taken seriously. It's probably an indication of something else and you need a mental health professional to look at your situation. There's no shame or stigma to it. A counselor can be a powerful resource. Fully 15-20% of Americans need psychological counseling right now . . . most of them are probably out hauling 80,000 lbs at 65 MPH (LOL) . . . so just think of it as getting a jump on your competition.

It could be that you have "white coat syndrome" which is very common. It can cause blood pressure to shoot up very high when being taken by a health professional. Again, there are underlying causes for that anxiety and you need to work on them.

Finally . . . 6'3" and you weigh 350 lbs?

I don't care if you do work out or have done "personal training." Those numbers make you obese and probably put you close to being morbidly obese.

At 75 inches, your weight should be no more than 220 lbs.

Really big, strong, fit, body builder types have a Lean Body Mass of 190 or even 200 lbs at the most. Toss is 10% body fat and that puts them at 220.

A normal big guy without a lot of dense muscle might carry 175 lbs of pounds of Lean Body Mass. Add 25% body fat (which is a lot) and that puts them at 220.

So, without knowing more about you, I suspect that you are well over the 30% Body Fat cut-off that defines obesity and really pushing your body too hard.

It could be that trucking is a serious health risk for you at this time.

Your Blood Pressure will certainly be high even without white coat syndrome.

My apologies if I misunderstood anything (I read the thread very quickly). But my advice is to cut your weight fast (100 lbs at least) and focus on diet and exercise. Being on the road, eating crap and not sleeping properly is not the place for you right now.

 

GO FOR IT!!!!!!

 

I am 28 and I as well have a 4 year degree in business. I tried some office jobs and sales, hated both. Started in landscaping and custom concrete for 3 years. Got very good at it but I got sick of being out in the elements constantly forming, pouring and finishing concrete. Very tough job. Wife divorced me, but I got a angel of a daughter out of it. I was at a cross road and always knew I had trucking as an option in my back pocket. My dad and my brother are truckers, so I knew what it was about. Way to much debt and child support to start a crappy entry level job with my degree and I am sick of construction, so I am currently enrolled at a junior college here in mississippi learning to drive a rig. Trucking will bail me out of my debt, much better money than anything else I could do. Nothing to be home for during the week anymore, so see the country and make a great living at the same time. Plenty of companies around here to get me home every weekend to see my daughter. All is going to be well. I am excited about my future in trucking. All you experienced drivers can tell me how bad it is going to be now.
PS BEEF My DOT physical did not require grabbing my nuts, some do though.