Day 201: Sherry Lee

April 19, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“… it’s just a matter of taking little steps.  I think so much of it is trying to keep things as simple as possible and breaking down the events that we’re faced with into just small, manageable tasks.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Sherry, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you introduce yourself?

Sherry Lee: Yes.  My name is Sherry Lee, and I’m calling from California.

Toni: And Sherry, what do you do?

Sherry: I work as a research and development assistant for a large laboratory here in Malibu, California.

Toni: Okay, and Sherry, when you think of that word inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?

Sherry: Well, I try to inspire obviously everyone I come in contact with. My coworkers, employees, volunteers, and family, many women I think who doubt that they can survive with nature and what nature has in store for them.  I try to motivate as well.  I feel like that we’ve lost touch with the accomplishments of many of the women that have helped settle this vast continent, and working harder for less recognition is often a woman’s legacy.

Toni: Oh, absolutely.  Well, I want to touch on this a bit.  You said you inspire others by showing them the surviving for nature, surviving in nature.  What’s that about?

Sherry: Well, I was very inspired by watching a National Geographic short series about a man from the UK who attempted a challenge of living alone for 90 days with just the basic necessities in the Yukon.  And as I was watching that I kept saying “Well, I can do that, and why hasn’t a woman taken on a challenge like this?  And there’s so many men that are in these survival television shows all the time, why hasn’t a woman tried it?”  And I just thought “Well, it might as well be me, so let’s get off the couch and let’s go do it.”

Toni: So you are going to do what?

Sherry: Go to the Yukon and survive for 90 days with just basic necessities.  I’m going to take camera equipment so I’ll be able to photograph it and send a video every week to a production company so that everyone can follow along.

Toni: Wow.  So really how you inspire others is taking on this journey and showing what can be done, and that’s amazing.

Sherry: Yes.  I think by using common sense and just taking our time, learning what we can about what interests us, I think it can be very surprising for many people, and a lot of people forget how awesome they really are.

Toni: You know, this is a great example of potential and really not even knowing what your potential is until you get there, how far it can go.  How do you think that this journey and what you’re doing will help others explore their potential?

Sherry: Well, I think that many people will be able to relate to this in some way or another.  This will…

Toni: Will it showcase the strength of what it takes?  I mean, if there’s … I’m sitting here going, gosh, you know what, I would think this takes a lot of courage to do.

Sherry: Oh yes, it does take a lot of courage, but it takes a lot of preparation, and I think if we’re prepared we feel very comfortable with what we’re doing.  And yes, there will be many things that will be different that I haven’t even thought of.  I’m sure there’ll be a lot of things that I will learn about myself.  And the people that watch it, you know … it’s one of those things if I can do this, what can they do?  And I think it will be very interesting for a lot of folks.

Toni: So I would imagine … you watched something on television, you were inspired by it, you made the decision to do it, you’re preparing to do it, and you’re going to document it as you’re doing it, correct?

Sherry: Correct, yes.

Toni: And so the rest of us can look at this and go “Okay, I might be inspired to do this, but if I’m not inspired to do this, I sure am inspired by you doing this.”

Sherry: Well, I just hope that it motivates people to step out and try different things and learn new things.  You know, life can be pretty boring.  We’re under the influence of so much negativity, you know, so many disasters, I mean just like the earthquake, the 7.2 earthquake that we just had, you know, there’s a lot of fear and anxiety out there.  But I think for all of us to really live a fulfilled life, we need to challenge ourselves in all kinds of different directions, and this is just the direction that I’ve chosen.

Toni: Now Sherry, what inspires you?

Sherry: What inspires me?

Toni: Yes.

Sherry: Anything just about that has to do with being outdoors.  I love Mother Nature.  I love the wilderness.  I love the environment.  I snow ski, I scuba dive, I do a lot of outdoor activities, so just about anything outdoors that I can get involved in, I want to be in.

Toni: And that inspires you to be there?

Sherry: Yes.

Toni: Have you always had this kind of courage to pick a goal like this and see it through?  Is this something you have always done?

Sherry: Yes, I guess to some degree.  It’s one of those things where, you know, I’ll find something that really interests me.  A while back, I was very interested in taking long bicycle trips, and the more I learned about it the more I wanted to do it, and I would take a short trip and then a little bit longer and a little bit longer, and then I went from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast.  So it’s just a matter of taking little steps.  I think so much of it is trying to keep things as simple as possible and breaking down the events that we’re faced with into just small, manageable tasks.

Toni: So it’s not so much even going to an extreme challenge but in day-to-day life to break things down into manageable pieces so that we can keep moving forward.

Sherry: Absolutely, absolutely, yes, yes.

Toni: Now how will you continuously explore your own potential not only in this journey that you’re about to embark on, but have you had to do exploration along the way of your potential in order to prepare for this?

Sherry: Yes, I think so.  It’s one of those things where I believe that I’ve kind of been born for this particular type of adventure, because I have loved the outdoors since I was a child.  I think it started when I fed my peanut butter sandwiches to a deer as a little kid, and it just is one of those things that’s close to my heart and easy for me to dream about and think about.   You know, it keeps my mind going full speed in that direction all the time.

Toni: And so in the preparation process are there things that you need to do that are outside of your comfort zone that you just even in that part of the journey that you push yourself in ways that you had no idea that you had that sort of potential?

Sherry: Yes.  A lot of it is preparing yourself mentally as well as physically.  Physically is always the hardest part for me.  But, you know, a lot of it is being comfortable with living alone and being by yourself and being independent, and that has a challenge all its own; and that’s something that I definitely need to work on as much as possible.

Toni: How will you do that when you’re on this challenge?  What resources will you have?

Sherry: The only resources that I’ll have is I’ll have a GPS that will track my location, and people will be able to follow that … my location, and the other resources I will have is just pretty much basic necessities.  The gentleman that did this before took two guns because it is in bear country.  I will just only take one, but I will take bear spray.  So, you know, there’s things that you just think about as far as necessities and just getting right down to really what we need and what we don’t need, you know, to get by.

Toni: Wow.  Sherry, this has been so fascinating, and we wish you the greatest success with this journey, and once you get through this journey I can’t imagine the next journey.

Sherry: Well, I’ll just have to see.  I haven’t thought that far down the road yet.

Toni: Oh my gosh, and we will be following you, and we will also let the Get Inspired! Project followers have a way that they can keep track of you as well, so for your own inspiration of doing this and letting us in on it, we thank you so very much.

Sherry: Well I sure appreciate you giving me the opportunity to speak with everyone, and I hope it does inspire other people to go out there and do it, whatever their “do it” is.

Toni: Well that is fantastic, and thank you so much again, Sherry, for being part of the Project.

Sherry: Yes, thank you.

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For more information about Sherry Lee:  YouTube Video About Sherry Lee

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