When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

-- Anonymous

I honestly have no idea where I heard this phrase, but these are the seven words that kept me going through the summer.

I was in Atlanta for two and a half months doing an internship for a television station.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved it, and those ten-hour days, wearing three-inch heels and blazers in the 98-degree weather was an accomplishment in itself. But that isn't what made me question myself about my ability to survive in this fast-paced and sometimes cruel world of journalism.

I saw the families whose innocent loved ones were brutally murdered, the baby who lost his mother, the grown man trying to jump off a bridge because he lost his job and the toddler who was kidnapped at gunpoint.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the fact that these situations bothered me because they were so upsetting, it was the mere fact that they didn't.

They say it takes a special person to talk to someone who has lost a loved one, but for me, when I was interviewing someone, I believe I suppressed the feelings I had as if the situation were not real.

But at the end of the day I realized this was reality. The things I saw and heard everyday were in fact real life.

I questioned whether I could continue to do this for the next some odd years, without being affected by it in some way.

Did this mean I had no compassion for other people? Was I already becoming some cold- hearted journalist?

The tables turned after a few weeks when one of my best friends, who is also a sorority sister of mine, was in a tragic car accident.

I realized that I did have feelings, a lot of feelings for others.

I told myself that it was okay to feel for other people even if it was while doing my job.

I know people say not to let your job interfere with your personal life and the way you feel, but to me that is the only way to let yourself really understand someone.

I'm not saying you have to cry with them or get extremely emotional, but put yourself in their shoes.

It makes it a lot easier to ask questions without feeling like you are crossing the line into their personal space. Also when people know you care they are more willing to open up.

Throughout this entire time I kept repeating that quote in my head.

Life had thrown me a lemon, something sour that I wasn't really ready for.

So I told myself I had to take these experiences and do something good with them. I knew there was some way to turn a sour situation into something sweet, and that is where the lemonade comes in.

So the next time you find yourself in a not-so-good situation. Maybe it's a huge deal or maybe a test you're a little stressed out about.

Don't tell yourself you can't do it or that you're going to fail ... just look for a little sugar and a lemon squeezer.

Jennifer Reynolds is a senior journalism major from Shreveport and serves as associate editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to jmr035@latech.edu