This month, I’ve been taking part in Tracking Wonder’s free, annual online event, Quest 2017. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in December, participants receive a prompt by email in the form of a written question and/or video from big thinkers like Krista Tippett, Rebecca Walker, Jonathan Fields and Desiree Adaway. Each prompt is meant to foster thinking about what your “quest” will be in the New Year.

Yesterday’s prompt by Kristen Noel was:

“Where are you going to go deeper this year, where can you be brave enough to bring forth even more of yourself — to infuse your work, creativity and business with that which is uniquely YOU, thus inspiring others to do more of the same? What could that look like in 2017 for you? #BringYouForward”

As I reflected on this question, much to my terror, the word leadership, kept coming up. “Oh no, no, no,” I thought, “That can’t be it. I’m not a leader.” But the word wouldn’t go away. So, I looked up the etymology for “lead” and read this:

“to guide,” Old English lædan (transitive) “cause to go with oneself; march at the head of, go before as a guide, accompany and show the way; carry on; sprout forth, bring forth; pass (one’s life),” causative of liðan “to travel,” from Proto-Germanic *laidjan (source also of Old Saxon lithan, Old Norse liða “to go,” Old High German ga-lidan “to travel,” Gothic ga-leiþan “to go”), from PIE *leit- (2) “to go forth.”

To guide.

To accompany and show the way.

I can do that.

I already do that as a Big Vision Consultant, and will be doing more of it in 2017 as a new Premium Consultant with the Tracking Wonder team. And I know there are more ways I can lead that feel less familiar and will call on me to be brave.

In my last post, Cultivating Calm Strength for the Long Haul, I told you about how since the election, I’ve been taking photos of the sunset and posting them on Instagram. It has been my way to process/cope/deal, whatever you want to call it.

But yesterday I took a photo of the sunrise.

And this Quest prompt came in.

And it’s been almost a month since the election.

And I realized, it’s time to complete my grieving, rise and live my Big Vision. It’s time to be the best leader I can be given my skills, personality and resources.

After January 20, 2017, in my opinion, we’re going to be experiencing a huge deficit in leadership, a deficit that we’re all going to need to make up for, however we are called. We’re going to need to be the leaders we’ve been waiting for.

How are you being called to be brave and lead in 2017?

P.S. You can still join Quest 2017. We’re only on prompt #3 of 13.

Photo of a “Sunrise Angel” by me ( :