Life & Perspective
“Happiness isn’t a choice. It’s every choice.”
— Devon Skerry
Field journal
Skerry Thoughts
Thoughts shaped by service, fear, work, recovery, nature, and experience.
Featured thought
“I finally feel like I can take up space, like I have something to say and it’s not my responsibility to make people comfortable with their lack of control of me.”
Thoughts Along the Way
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Longer Thoughts
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Service & Sacrifice · Mind & Recovery
The Hero and the Victim
Read the Thought →“I have been highly trained to respond calmly in high stress, life threatening situations.”
This piece explores the contrast between being trained to remain calm during emergencies and how that same emotional control can be perceived outside of those situations.
Mind & Recovery
Don't Send Me Back to Surgery
Read the Thought →“If successful mental health treatment was like brain surgery…”
A reflection on treatment, visible injuries, recovery, and what happens when the people around us finally see the wounds we've been trying to explain.
Service & Sacrifice
From TOAG to TOAD
Read the Thought →“We signed up to be a TOAD. Take Off and Die.”
A reflection on signing up to be a TOAD, the fire you can’t call for help in, and what it costs to feel everything for other people.
Service & Sacrifice · Life & Perspective
Walking Around the Boston VA
Read the Thought →“As I traverse the sidewalks surrounding the Boston VA center, I appreciate how lucky I am to walk circles around our injured and dying service members.”
“I feel the fragility of my own life… and I giggle.”
Mind & Recovery · From the Woods
And So, I Persist
Read the Thought →“Feet slipping on last year's leaves Fingers gripping untouched soil Lungs and legs burning I climb Mt. Misery”
Poetry
From the Notebook
And So, I Persist
Feet slipping on last year's leaves Fingers gripping untouched soil Lungs and legs burning I climb Mt. Misery
Alas, the crest is yielding The summit beckons
I achieve my mission despite my hesitations and anxieties
Atop this victory I see yet another challenge. Dark waters, depths unknown
But wait, I see the reflection of the man I have become. I know those depths.
…And so, I persist.
— Devon Skerry
Open on its own page →The Adulthood Dream
Tears stream down my face The flag has been folded The firefighter has been laid to rest. The childhood dream fulfilled.
Tears stream down my face I claw my way out from dirt and ash Coals of my passion are fanned by the calm winds of a new morning.
These new tears are not of sorrow These new tears are of joy
New freedom, new challenges The adulthood dream begins.
— Devon Skerry
Open on its own page →Looking for support?
Some of the topics shared here touch on mental health, trauma, recovery, and life after service. We've collected organizations and resources that may be helpful.
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