Still Here

Shawn McDermott is an Army veteran who served across the United States and Germany before returning home to build a life worth living.

That last part didn’t come easy. After several suicide attempts and years of struggling with PTSD, Shawn found his way to mindful meditation through The Purple Heart Project and the work of people who refused to give up on veterans. What began as survival became something more — a path toward self-understanding, emotional tools that actually worked, and ultimately, the ability to show up as the husband and father his family deserved.

When he’s not writing or meditating, Shawn works with his hands — building furniture the slow way, with hand tools, to the standard his mentor Rob Cosman taught him: family first, craft second, and never cut corners on either.

He lives with his wife and family and sits quietly in the mornings before the house wakes up.