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I set my pen down and put my head in my arms, defeated. It was almost 10 p.m., and I had been looking for a trend story idea for more than eight hours. The only thing I had to show for the day was a page of doodles I scribbled in frustration.

I had arrived at the journalism cherub program excited and confident. I was sure that the next five weeks would motivate me to study journalism.  Now I felt like I didn’t measure up. How could I hope to be a journalist if I couldn’t even find a trend story topic? Maybe I was too cautious or close-minded to be a good reporter.

Tired and disappointed, I considered calling my mom and telling her there was no way I could go to journalism school.

I tried to remember that I was probably not the first young journalist to have doubts sometimes. Editors at the Chicago Tribune, our instructors and guest speakers talked about how they started as journalists. Some shared their own cherub experiences. Almost everyone talked about a tricky assignment or a lesson they learned.  They faced challenges and made mistakes, but they were still successful. I decided I should not give up because of one frustrating day.  Finding a story had been a lot harder than I imagined, but I was determined to keep trying.

Later that week I decided to write about budget cuts in K-12 schools, and my story was not half as disastrous as I thought it would be.

I remind myself that I am still learning, and every journalist faces challenges. I also decided that the more I think about it, the more I want to study journalism after all.