Today has been a rough day.

It’s almost 4:00 PM.

So far, all I’ve accomplished is drinking coffee and taking a shower. Neither of which helped that much. I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to wrap my mind around what happened during this election.

How did we elect a man who spews so much hate rhetoric? How did we miss electing the first female president? How will the next four years play out?

I don’t want to linger too long on it. Instead, I want to make my way through the stages of disbelief and grief as quickly as possible. Because I’ve got a lot of work to do.

Looking forward, I see a few things to be true. I’d like to share them with you, no matter which candidate you voted for this year. I hope that you’ll find inspiration.

Here are a few things I’m embracing.

I WILL NO LONGER HIDE.

Being seen is one of my greatest struggles.

People think I’m making that up, but it’s the truth: I’m really shy. I prefer to be lost in thought, sitting at the back of the room, quietly observing. Playing it small is my comfort zone, ironically enough.

That ends today.

From here on out, I will no longer hide.

Starting now, I will boldly stand tall – exposed and vulnerable, fully alive. I will no longer shrink in fear of being too bold, feminist, loud, confident, faithful, or optimistic.

I will continue to live my life to the fullest, as authentically as possible. I will more vocally embrace and protect anyone else doing the same.

I WILL KEEP CREATING.

Art imitates life.

It’s an important part of our society.

Art historians have shown that human beings are storytellers. We want to document and express ourselves, as well as what’s happening around us. Cave paintings, sculpture, still lives, and films are a way to understand history.

So, I promise to keep creating. I will funnel everything I’ve got into it. I will not hold back.

The movies I create will, hopefully, continue to make the world a better place: through laughter, tears, forgetting reality, embracing possibilities, and empowering people to act. My movies will, hopefully, help people open their minds. They will, hopefully, break hearts and create positive social change. They will, hopefully, help people draw new conclusions about our world and our place in it.

Not because I’m so great (hubris) or the movies are that impeccable, but because together we’re an agent of change; a small seed planted, nurtured by all, that eventually grows into a strong oak tree.

We are powerful. We can do incredible things.

So, yes, I’ll keep creating.

I WILL STEP UP MY GAME.

As a filmmaker, I’ve been getting started for a long time.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes. (Like, a lot of them.) The experience of making those first films was amazing, though. Through the act of making them I’ve learned a lot, met incredible people, dreamed of a lifelong career as a director, and discovered how I can best serve my audience.

But I’ve been an unknown for a long time. As a result, I accidentally settled into a new comfort zone there. I got stuck in the space where it’s safe to quietly explore and experiment as an unknown. I put too much pressure on myself to live up to expectations and I stalled a bit.

But now it’s game time.

There’s no room for hesitation anymore.

Fear’s riding shotgun, not yanking the wheel. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if I was willing to get this close to the edge of the cliff, it’s time to leap. The net will appear.

The training wheels are coming off.

I’M ABOUT TO GO HAM.

Don’t worry.

We will heal.

The election was divisive. It was ugly but I think we’ll heal. I think we’ll come together. I think we’ll be brave and shape the future we want, no matter who’s in office.

This will usher in a new era where people (like me) who were once ambivalent about politics continue to shift gears. We’ll pay closer attention to our elected officials, how they behave, and what they do on our dime. We’ll do our research, volunteer, seek the truth, vote every time we’re asked to vote.

We’ll answer the call to serve, stand up, speak out. We’ll be more vocal about what we want and we’ll hold our elected officials accountable. We’ll risk being uncomfortable to have critical conversations, look inward, discover our own biases, seek understanding of others, find commonalities, and let our hearts be broken. We’ll put down the distractions, take action, stand for something, march in the streets.

We’ll even burn this place to the ground, if that’s what it takes for love to win.

Because it always does, my friends.

Love is the most powerful force in the entire world.

We’ve got this. We will heal. We will be alright.