Taking Negativity Too Far

By Sandy Long

Everything a truck driver does is based on performance, the miles they drive, utilizing their time wisely, they money they make, fuel savings, and safety to name a few things. There are variables beyond a driver’s control involved. It is easy, if one area gets out of kilter, to allow negativity to enter into other areas, even into one’s personal life.

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Here is an illustration. Sally had been driving for a company for several years running primarily light loads in the Midwest. Her pay was based not only on mileage, but included bonus pay for fuel savings and service performance. Her truck was set up to pull these lighter loads and was set at 65 mph which covered the Midwest speed limits. She always received her bonuses. The company grew short of drivers in the Western eleven states, so moved Sally and some others over to cover that region. Sally was assigned beer runs which were up to maximum gross weight. Combined with running the mountains, the heavier load weights, and having a truck not set to pull the heavier weight, Sally fell behind on fuel mileage and she was late a couple of times for delivery due to road closures; the company withheld her bonuses.

Sally did not understand that it was not really due to anything she was doing wrong, took it to heart, and entered a depressive state. This affected not only her, but also her dealings with the company, with her family, and she started to withdraw from her friends. She blamed herself fully instead of looking at what was going on objectively and seeking assistance from her company in solving the problem of wrong truck in the wrong area. She took negativity too far.

Negativity is insidious. Something goes wrong, you talk about it, perhaps on social media. Someone else tells of their negative happenings, and next thing you know, your mood spirals further down. You start looking at everything through dark glasses and can find no joy anywhere. Of course, there are times when everything seems to be going wrong; it is called life and sometimes bad things just happen. You cannot focus on those times though. How does one get beyond negativity? At times it is not easy.

Some folks have a strong religious belief. For those, putting one’s self into God’s hands works and having faith that what you are going through is part of the learning process does wonders. Other’s might start out the day with taking a look in a mirror and just remembering to like what they see reflected. Some might look for a colorful bird, or some part of nature’s beauty to lift them from negativity for that day. Having a mentor for instance, to help find solutions, helps many. Or someone that is not afraid to be totally honest with you about things perhaps you need to do differently helps others.

The main thing to remember is that most negative things that happen either pass quickly or there is a solution to be found. Taking negativity too far though can destroy not only a driver’s career, but their family life too. There is nothing that cannot be changed if one tries hard enough, even negativity.

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