This summer, in my hometown of Colorado Springs I've had the pleasure of interning for Cumulus Media, the second-largest radio broadcasting company in the United States. As the internship starts to wrap up, I thought I would share just a little bit of my experience to recap and reflect.

In just under three months, I have gotten to see the two sides of radio broadcasting: from production, recording, live streaming, cutting and spotting, to promotion, sales, advertisements, interviews and commercial content. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity, and it has only reminded me why I chose to pursue a career in journalism.

I haven't loved every minute of the internship, but I have loved learning the ins and outs about radio broadcasting. I am thankful for the people who have guided me in this process-those who have been willing to educate me and allow me to engage in hands-on projects.Yes, I have made a couple of terrible mistakes and was assigned mundane tasks to do, however, the overall experience has been enriching.

For example, I can now say that I have been live on the airwaves, which was both simultaneously nerve-racking and completely exhilarating. In addition, I went to events with multiple radio stations, put syndicated radio shows together, cut and spotted commercials and learned how to professionally voice tracks, run play back, preview, and sound mix. These are all things not many other people can say that they have done.

Too often, as an aspiring journalist, I am told that I am wasting my time because it's inconsistent and a hard field to get into. This internship has allowed me to surround myself with people who have made it in this career and genuinely enjoy it due to the unpredictability of this job. Yet, just because something is hard does not mean that it shouldn't be pursued. The inconsistency of it keeps me on edge and hungry; ambitious and driven. So, I don't believe I'm wasting my time because if those qualities are lost inside someone, they have become static and complacent (shout out to Dylan Reyes), they've lost the ability to become dynamic.

The number one lesson I will take away from this internship is something that all of the disc-jockeys and on-air personalities have said: "Don't get too comfortable with where you're at; stomp on some throats, if you have to." While I won't be stomping on someone's throat any time soon, it is an interesting concept to ponder, especially at this stage in life. The reason why we worked hard to keep our grades up in middle and

high school is so we could get into a college with a good reputation. We hope this college will give us a degree and ultimately, we receive more out of life because we are not comfortable with our current situation and that's okay.

Isn't it funny that once we seem to be settling in and getting comfortable, life has a way of undoing everything? We were not made to be comfortable; instead, we were made to challenge ourselves and grow physically, mentally and spiritually- we were made to thrive and be dynamic. We cannot do any of these if we are simply content because comfort has the ability to stifle our inspiration, hope and dreams.

Don't misunderstand me, there is is a distinction between comfort and security. Security is knowing that our families and/or friends love us. Comfort means that one is satisfied with the love we receive instead of loving each other more and allowing those feelings to grow, flourish and thrive. Think about it, do we really want that kind of relationship? In short, we can be secure, but we should never settle for comfort.

I chose to pursue journalism because it makes me uncomfortable. It forces me to grow and expand, and keep looking for new opportunities that come my way so that I can keep getting better in order to show that I can execute the skills that I have learned in new and exciting ways.

To paraphrase Farrah Gray: "Comfort is the enemy of growth." Let that sink in, villagers.