If you’ve ever sat on an airplane and listened to the safety spiel before takeoff, you know the importance of placing your own oxygen mask before helping others. But how often do we prioritize our physical well-being outside of an aircraft emergency?
To be honest, probably not frequently enough.
Self-care is vital, especially for professional truck drivers
Self-care can be thought of as a set of activities that a person engages in regularly to prioritize health, prevent illness and manage physical and mental health conditions.
Self-care involves taking care of your overall wellbeing first so you can be your best self in other areas of life.
By investing time in self-care, you’re helping to reduce stress, increase life satisfaction, build a sense of accomplishment, develop healthier relationships and set clearer goals for the future.
During the winter months, self-care is especially important for many reasons: Shorter daylight hours, holiday stress and exercise routines impacted by cold weather all have an effect on our energy and mood. By taking the time to invest in self-care, we can fight back against the winter blues.
8 forms of self-care
There are eight formally recognized forms of self-care:
- Physical;
- Psychological (mental/emotional);
- Environmental;
- Financial;
- Social;
- Recreational;
- Professional/educational; and
- Spiritual.
Each form of self-care has foundational aspects that we can think of as the “bare basics,” as well as areas that we can explore when the basics feel easy. During periods when life becomes stressful and overwhelming, it is important to get back to the basics of foundational self-care.
It is also important to know that everyone has a deficit in some form of self-care.
We can look at self-care as a lifetime investment rather than a sprint to the finish line. The pursuit of better health and well-being is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort, commitment and adaptation.
With that in mind, it can be helpful to perform a self-assessment of one’s self-care from time to time to identify areas that may be lacking.
Physical self-care
Physical self-care is likely what comes to mind when most people think of self-care. While its importance remains the same, priorities will vary depending on your lifestyle. Physical self-care includes nutrition, hydration, adequate sleep and physical activity.
For over-the-road drivers (OTR), there are numerous barriers that can make this form of self-care especially challenging. Building a foundation for physical self-care may include:
- Keeping convenient, shelf-stable nutritious snacks available;
- Stretching often;
- Setting goals for fluid intake while also limiting caffeine; and
- Making an effort to create an environment that’s conducive to quality sleep.
Psychological self-care
Another form of self-care that most are familiar with is psychological self-care, which includes mental and emotional health. At the very least, prioritizing mental health sets a foundation for psychological self-care, but many smaller pieces can help to support mental health and can be a form of self-care.
Writing in a journal to reflect on your thoughts and feelings — and making time to include things you are grateful for —can help to create a more positive mindset. While on the road, practicing some positive affirmations and mindfully including forms of stress management can also be helpful. Even more simply, give yourself the opportunity to laugh out loud!
Financial self-care
One form of self-care that can initially feel stressful is financial self-care. By assessing expenses, creating a budget, and setting both short- and long-term financial goals, we can greatly reduce this stress and set ourselves up for success.
The St. Christopher Fund’s very own Shannon Currier is partnering with New York Life to create a four-part series on financial health in the St. Christopher Fund’s Highway to Hope podcast. Setting aside time to tune in and taking some notes may provide a great opportunity for drivers to invest in financial self-care.
In the meantime, looking at expenses — particularly discretionary spending (non-essential goods and services) — and considering whether these purchases are supporting overall health and happiness can be a great place to start.
Social self-care
Social self-care can be one of the more challenging forms of self-care while on the road, as many truck drivers are faced with social isolation. Social self-care involves making regular connections to nurture relationships with others.
While on the road, it’s important to make time to connect with friends and family and carve out time to respond to personal emails, letters, texts and calls. Building your current social circle can also be beneficial. However, these relationships ideally should be mutually beneficial: Self-care in this category may include reducing time with or cutting out people who bring negative energy or are toxic in nature.
Environmental self-care
Given the lifestyle of OTR truck drivers, environmental self-care is an especially important area to assess and build some simple routines around.
Environmental self-care involves creating a safe, functional and comfortable living space — which includes the truck. Simple routines to create a strong foundation include setting up a simple cleaning and decluttering routine and creating a positive sensory experience — meaning a comfortable temperature, enjoyable music, and a place to sit and lie down that supports good posture and quality sleep.
Recreational self-care
Recreational self-care involves making time for hobbies and activities that you enjoy or think you may enjoy.
This may be especially challenging for OTR drivers because of long working hours and limited space. However, we can also think of recreational self-care as making time for fun — which may give you the opportunity to think outside of the box. Reactional self-care on the road could include reading for pleasure, spending time in nature or simply dancing.
While some hobbies do require equipment or large space, consider activities that can travel with you versus those that are best suited for home time.
Professional/educational self-care
Professional and educational self-care can include self-care that supports your career and/or educational goals, as well as learning for fun.
Building a foundation for self-care in this category may include setting clear boundaries to create better work-life balance. For some additional ideas, consider aiming for a certain number of miles driven without an accident, or slowing down to improve gas mileage.
Another area to consider would be balancing the challenges of other forms of self-care within the chosen career: Can you make an effort to get more vegetables, whole grains and fruits into your daily diet, despite the existing barriers?
Spiritual self-care
The final category of self-care is spiritual self-care, which often is assumed to be religious in nature. In actuality, spiritual self-care is the pursuit of optimism and hope in any form.
For some people, this may include an organized religion, though spiritual health also involves positive self-talk, actively seeking sources of inspiration and having experiences of awe. Most commonly, these can be found in nature — though spiritual self-care can also include activities such as yoga, meditation, practicing self-affirmations or supporting a cause that has meaning to you.
Don’t try to tackle everything at once.
Tackling all areas of self-care may feel overwhelming, so it is okay to identify one or two areas to start with. Consider which form of self-care is likely to make the biggest impact on your quality of life and start there. Remember, there is no finish line when it comes to self-care. It is a lifetime commitment to better health and wellness.
For more tips on living a healthier lifestyle while away from home or to learn more about programs offered by St. Christopher Fund, visit our website at truckersfund.org. As always, we welcome questions and ideas for new topics! Our Health & Wellness Manager, Lindsey Bryan, can be reached at [email protected].
As the health and wellness manager for the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund, Lindsey Bryan has a passion for helping drivers manage their health. While she has always had a heart for helping others, she found her passion in health coaching while on her own health journey after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and learning the impact that nutrition and exercise can make in the management of chronic health conditions.
Lindsey graduated from Brenau University with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. She’s spent the past decade working in various health and wellness fields including addiction counseling, social work, inpatient psychiatric rehabilitation and nutrition counseling.
Outside of work, Lindsey is an avid gardener and loves to hike the mountains of East Tennessee. When the weather doesn’t allow for outdoor adventures, you can find her crafting, baking and spending time with her husband, son and their dogs.
