Enjoying Intensity: Combatting Anxiety to Promote Personal and Professional Growth on Co-Op
Written by: Lilly Arnold, Associate Art Director Co-op (she/her)
As a graphic design student at Drexel University, I had the opportunity to partake in Drexel’s cooperative education program (or co-op), where students gain six months of tangible work experience before graduation. There was a search and interview process ahead of the co-op itself; during that process, I concluded that Razorfish Health (RFH) was the agency where I would be most able to learn and grow to my fullest potential. From the beginning of my search to my sixth month as Associate Art Director at RFH, I knew it would be a challenging yet enlightening experience. However, I hadn’t realized the impact my co-op would have on my personal growth until I started noticing positive changes in my personal life.
Starting an internship or co-op is a big adjustment for any college student. I would describe it as a complicated whirlwind of excitement and stress: two separate entities that oftentimes arise in conjunction. For me, I felt as though my experience at RFH would dictate my success in the rest of my career, and I worried these anxious feelings would affect my ability to work and learn or hinder my social experiences in the workplace. Although it was a challenge to overcome, I credit the environment at RFH for helping me combat this “new-to-the-workplace anxiety” because my team and the entirety of the company cultivate trust, respect, and support among team members.
My biggest goal for my co-op at RFH was to learn as much as I could from the intelligent and ambitious individuals I worked with day to day, both on the creative team and within all sectors of the company. As a result, I have made some key observations between combatting anxiety and pushing creative thinking. Anxiety hinders creativity because as a creative, your job is to push boundaries. In school, we’re taught how to take and use criticism, and I’ve been able to use this experience to my advantage in the co-op by not being afraid to think outside of the box and taking creative risks.
What I found best helped me gain the most I could out of the experience and combat my aforementioned anxiety was learning to love the intensity of working at an advertising agency like RFH. It could have gone two ways: I could have let my anxiety control my experience or I could learn to embrace the intensity. I’m glad I was able to push myself to embrace it. At agencies like RFH, projects come in and out at a fast pace, and I found that the crazy days are my favorite! It is exciting to actively challenge yourself, and being able to embrace that has helped hone my sense of ambition in all aspects of my life.
My journey throughout my co-op at RFH has helped me grow to be more confident and decisive, expand my logical and creative thinking, and combat the anxiety that comes with stepping out of my comfort zone. I am thankful that my experience has helped me develop this personal and professional growth, and I’m excited to put my new skills to use in my future personal, academic, and professional endeavors.
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