Where do we go from here? The answer is simple: vote.

By now, you are either celebrating the glorious win of our new president or plotting how you are going to live with your disappointment for the next 4 years.

But whether you are elated or depressed from Tuesday’s results, the last eighteen months have represented perhaps the most negative and divisive election season America has ever seen. Now, the challenge is for our president to bridge these divides and pick up where President Obama will leave off, come Jan. 20.

Every four or eight years, the American people are afforded the opportunity to vote and in doing so, reflect on the accomplishments of the incumbent or departing president. Eight years ago, Barack Obama was elected on the power of his inspirational message promising widespread changes and hope for a better tomorrow. However, recent history has shown that there is only so much any one president can tangibly accomplish in his—or her—four or eight years in the Oval Office. By design, the president is not an all-controlling leader, and although it now sounds rather idealistic, a president’s success is largely predicated on cooperation and negotiation with the legislative branch.

And while we regard President Obama as a successful president, his true impact realistically cannot be assessed now. And no matter what our current president-elect promises to do, the ability to make good on those promises is dependent on a host of factors out of the President’s control.

None of this is meant to devalue the importance of this election, or even the presidency. The above argument reflects the idea that the election is not the end of anything; instead, it is really just the beginning.

After the 2008 election, the idea that America entered a post-racial era became common, but if there’s anything Donald Trump’s campaign has definitively shown, it is that we are not as progressive as we thought. This election has shown that we can’t afford to avoid our issues and defects as a country. It’s time to take the necessary steps to address them.

Perhaps it’s poorly-timed to have a discussion about the importance of voting after the election, but with emotions at their peak, we think it represents a perfect time.

For countless election cycles, voter turnout rates have been abysmally low and during mid-term elections, the rates are even lower. Our ‘model democracy’ veers towards the bottom of the list among developed countries when it comes to voter participation. What should be startling to us is that it took the intensely divisive nature of this election for people to realize that voting is important. And yet, when it comes time to head to the polls again in two years and vote for local elections, will turnout rates be this high again?

The real responsibility for ‘improving the country’ falls on us, the everyday citizens. This is the situation we find ourselves in now—after more than four years of Congressional grid-lock, the important discussions, movements, and advances only have a chance of becoming successful if they begin at the local level.

Our democracy is predicated on the idea that people will take discussions on issues and convert them into passion for voting. Moreover, every American has an ethical responsibility to vote, the political party they support notwithstanding. And time and time again, our generation—the millennials—have had the opportunity to change the system, but we routinely come up short at the polls. Something needs to change.

This conversation applies to everyone, even if you aren’t happy with the winners in this election. If you supported our new president, then the onus is on you to ensure that apathy does not return. And if you feel short-changed by this election, then the challenge is to flip the script in 2018.

So regardless of how you felt about Tuesday’s results, remember that the president is not the only person with power in our country. Remember what Wednesday morning felt like. Above all, remember to take your civic duty seriously and vote at every election.