If you’ve been in high school for more than 10 minutes, you know that the stress of a huge workload can be incredibly overwhelming. While, unfortunately, I cannot make your teachers stop assigning eight hours of homework, I can give you some tips on how to cope with the giant wall of responsibility whose shadow you may find yourself in.

1. Before anything else, step back and breathe. Composed yet? Good.
2. Put your phone away to avoid distractions. One minute you’re checking Twitter, and the next thing you know you have a husband and three kids and still haven’t finished the essay.
3. Break your work load into subcategories. Focus on only finishing one at a time. This will make everything less intimidating.
4. Set goals and reward yourself once you finish them (e.g. 10 minutes of T.V. after an hour of homework).
5. On step four, don’t go overboard with the rewards (e.g. an hour of T.V. after 10 minutes of homework).
6. Getting stuck on one assignment? Switch to another one for a while. When you come back, you’ll be less frustrated, have a clear mind and be ready to work to your best ability.
7. Don’t keep looking at the clock or you will psych yourself out.
8. Before you know it, the terrifying wall of responsibility will be more like a cubicle wall, then a cute little picket fence, and then nonexistent.

Congratulations! You have just survived (insert ridiculous number of assignments here). Keep all these tips in mind next time you feel crushed by the weight of responsibility, and I guarantee you’ll be just fine. Hang in there, kid.