Life and the Zen of Truck Driving
Posted: Wednesday, October 20, 2010
by Donovan Baldwin
No Diet 4 Me
A few years ago, I had a job that was probably one of the most enjoyable I have ever had. I got to teach people how to drive a truck as an in-truck and classroom instructor for Schneider National Carriers in Dallas, Texas.
Yeah, the big ones. Semi's.
Every two weeks, on Tuesday morning, I picked up a new set of students. I usually taught two to four students at a time how to perform inspections, drive the truck, pull a trailer, back, park, and generally operate a truck safely. If necessary, I also helped prepare them to pass the examination for getting a CDL (Commercial Driver's License).
While learning to drive a big truck with a 10-speed gear box can be daunting in itself, many students had other factors going as well. Many had been out of work for some time and saw this as their last chance to get a decent job. Many were away from home for the first time, and almost all were terrified of what could possibly happen if they made a mistake with that big hunk of machinery.
One of my biggest jobs was to get my students over their nervousness, sometimes even stark terror!
I tried to do this with humor, but also with a little nudge from my own experiences.
Over the years since my teens, I have studied a lot of subjects related to health, fitness, motivation, and personal improvement. I had practiced meditation and yoga, exercised regularly, and read works by writers such as Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, and Zig Ziglar.
Somewhere in the first day or two of actually driving the truck, the student would screw up.
Hey! They were new to this stuff. Working the clutch properly, selecting the right gear, and actually getting the truck into it, could be difficult for a newbie. We won't even talk about getting a 53 foot trailer around a corner with cars honking and hurtling all around you....all while you are absolutely terrified!
Stalling in the middle of a busy intersection was common. So was trying to restart the truck and get moving again. Sometimes they tried several times...and failed.
That's when they looked at me for help and saw that I had placed my hands in the meditation position, thumb and finger together. As they looked at me, about to blow their tops, I quietly said, "Peace. Calm. Tranquility."
It broke the dam of pressure that was building up inside. They realized that we were in a situation which could be resolved and that I, the instructor, was not upset or worried. Usually, they laughed, figured out what to do, and went on with the lesson.
Many, after that event, when they were starting to get frustrated or had issues interfering with their progress, would suddenly stop, look at me and say the words, "Peace. Calm. Tranquility." Then, they would get on with it, whatever "it" was.
Over time, other instructors, including my wife, who was also an instructor, would tell students that I taught "Zen truck driving". While most viewed it as a joke, once or twice, other instructors would ask me to work with a difficult student, and "show them that Zen thing you do".
I used it merely as a relaxer, but many, like Pat and John, picked it up and made it a part of their driving practice.
Pat's instructor had not had a chance to work with her on the blind side parallel and I was asked to teach this to her as part of a program called "Jump Start", a follow-on training week that came after the two week basic training. Pat wanted to drive with her husband as a team. However, she had to successfully complete the blind side parallel and was having difficulty.
I caught her tensing up and got her to relax with the "Peace. Calm. Tranquility." mantra.
On the morning she was being tested by the Texas DMV personnel, I could only stand and watch as she sat behind the wheel, waiting for the signal to start. Her hands moved nervously on the wheel, and her eyes became bigger and bigger with pure terror. She was going blank and forgetting everything she needed to do to pass the test.
I could do nothing. If I signaled her, I would be sent away from the test site, and she might even be taken out of the truck and told to come back some other time. I was getting as nervous as she was.
Suddenly, her face lit up into a bright smile!
She looked at me, raised her hands into the mediation position. I saw her lips moving. She was saying the words. Then, she winked at me, and, on signal, plugged that 53 foot trailer perfectly in the hole.
Hey! It works!
A couple of years later, I ran into Pat and her husband at one of our facilities in Fontana, California. During the conversation, I reminded her of that day and how she suddenly was able to calm herself down immediately with my little mantra. Her husband laughed and said, "Yeah. She does that all the time."
John was an ex-cop who decided to drive trucks. I taught him to drive tankers. He was pretty calm as students went, but he would get frustrated at himself when he couldn't get things to work. The first time I pulled the mantra on him, we were in the middle of an intersection, and he had stalled the truck about three times trying to get it started again. He looked at me, laughed out loud, said the words to himself, started the truck and drove off.
Surprisingly, he was a "convert". He later became a training instructor and taught "Peace. Calm. Tranquility." to his students as well.
One day, after I had become a classroom instructor, John appeared in the doorway to say, "Hi!" I introduced him to my class as one of my in-truck students who had eventually become a training engineer. He said a few words of encouragement to them, then asked, "Has he taught you about 'Peace. Calm. Tranquility.' yet?"
Of course, they laughed and replied that I had...even in the classroom.
This gruff trucker dude, fresh off the road, looked at the class and said, "You listen to him. It works. I use it all the time over the road."
Then he waved and left.
Okay, there's nothing magic about my little mantra. It just allows me, and John and Pat, to break the immediate hold of stress and refocus. It's not the only thing you can do to get back on track and to toss off momentary fears and worries. It works because I believe it will, and I believe it will work so it does.
Maybe you just go to your "happy place" or have some other little stress breaker. Whatever works for you. Just don't let the stress take charge of what's happening to you. It's amazing what you can do when you throw out whatever is trying to run your life for you.
Someday I'll tell you about the lady who went nuts the day I recited the "Great OM" in class.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Donovan Baldwin is a 65-year-old accountant, amateur bodybuilder, freelance writer, certified optician, and Internet marketer currently living in the Atlanta, Gerogia area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has been a Program Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal Consultant for an educational field office. He has also been a trainer for a major international corporation, and has managed various small businesses, including his own. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he became interested in Internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He has posted a series of articles on The Law of Attraction , and other self-improvement issues at xtramoney4me.net/internetmarketing/reviews/law_of_attraction_articles/index.html .
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)You were obviously a heavenly teacher, Donovan! I think it's a great idea to use a mantra or a phrase to break the grip of fear. As for truck driving, I'd love to learn and have the experience of that huge machinery...
Great article. Thanks for sharing it - I love your diverse bio as well!
Thanks for the visit and comments, ladies. Wait til you hear about Charlie's tennis ball.
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