With a new President coming in I have find myself facing a few hard questions. What do I care most deeply about? What are the issues I want to sink myself into? How can I make a difference as an individual? It feels overwhelming. The march this weekend feels like a short term answer to that. The danger we face is allowing the march to make us feel better, to lull us into complacency. That is where the sinking feeling is coming from. There are more post mortems about the outcome of the election than I can recount, but one thing is clear. People didn’t show up. And not just to vote. Though more than 90 million eligible voters did not show up on Election Day. But to volunteer, to make phone calls, to donate, to run for office. The campaign didn’t show up in rural, red districts or suburbs where the assumption was made that undecided and female voters would vote for someone of the same gender and against the misogynist and racist language we heard during the campaign. There is a lot of uncertainty floating about what is next. What the next Administration will do on issues ranging from access to affordable healthcare, to access to clean air and drinking water to equal pay and paid leave. And I have overheard a lot of happy talk about how the next President is actually more moderate on these issues, how the people close to him would never allow him to take away access to contraception, or paid leave for mothers. Let’s hope not. But let’s not bet on it. There has also been a lot of talk about not allowing the new reality to become normal. Part of that is not lowering our own bar for what is acceptable and what is progress. So let’s be clear. Putting a few women in positions of power alone is not progress. Having members of your family taut a commitment to women’s issues is not progress. And we need to stay focused. Not all on the same thing. But on figuring out how to each do our part. In the midst of sharing Facebook photos, war stories about rain gear and snacks and extra layers, the most important step attendees can take is to determine what in their daily lives they will do to stand up to bigotry or sexism, to help encourage a candidate to get in the race, make an action plan for the year to engage in an issue or local race, defend a friend or coworker or even run for office. And we are going to have to get a little bit uncomfortable in our daily lives to do that by making time, by thinking hard about what we care about, by speaking up even when it isn’t easy. The march shouldn’t be a moment to rest and celebrate. It should be a warm up.