Maintaining a long distance relationship can be a very stressful situation. For truckers, who are away from home for long periods at time, maintaining relationships can sometimes test spouses, family, and friends, not to mention the truckers themselves. However, there are a few things all parties involved can do to keep healthy relationships, and take the focus off the job itself.

Maintaining Relationships Through Communication

The old adage that communication is key rings true for a reason. Truckers can go for days and weeks without having contact with anyone they know. Similarly, spouses, family members, and close friends can spend that same amount of time not knowing what is going on with you. We now live in an age where the means of communication are everywhere. Phone calls, email, text messages, Facebook updates, and more are used weekly, daily, and hourly for maintaining relationships. Whether you send a quick text when you are refueling, or making a call when you are pulling over for the night or at your destination, truckers have the means to stay in contact with their loved ones. Spouses, family, and loved ones should also do the same. Monitoring the road for endless hours can leave truckers wanting some form of human contact. Make sure to update your own social media pages or send texts to let the truckers in your lives know that you are thinking about them.

Networks And Social Groups

This is more for the spouses and loved ones of truckers. Maintaining relationships can become very difficult when your main focus is on the trucker who is out earning a living and cannot be home right now. Fortunately, the modern age is providing solutions. There are local groups and online networks to spouses, friends, and loved ones of truckers. They exchange information, tips, and more on everything from fixing things around the house to parenting, and even dealing with loneliness and depression. These groups have seen a huge increase over the past few years, and people have been maintaining relationships through the advice and friendships from online support groups and social clubs.

Make The Most Of Your Down Time Together

From the email we get and by looking at social networks, truckers and their loved ones are spending more time together when they aren’t on the road. Some truckers even find that maintaining relationships is easier with a copilot, and will take friends and loved ones with them on long journeys, is their schedules line up. Maintaining long term relationships can be hard, but there are many outlets to help keep the home fires burning during long hauls.