How to Freak Out Before School Starts

Katherine McClain (Kick Kat) and Julia Snoza (Grim Cracker) like to spend their summer evenings skating outdoors.

Step 1: Face the calendar head-on to prove to yourself that the microscopic summer you've been enjoying is slowly but surely coming to an end, despite your constant attempts (to make it seem like a week or two can be savored)?

Step 2: Reminisce about the times you had to run to class to keep from being late; study-nights and study-mornings; panic before an unexpected test; forgetting to do homework; group projects where only you did the work, etc.

Fun colors and cute patterns can alleviate the pain of the school year.

Step 3: Sit down. The mental load is getting heavy.

Step 4: Clean out your backpack and binders. Organize into stacks, either by subject or by amount of sleepless nights and stress caused.

Step 5: Lay down, because you're starting to feel light headed.

Step 6: Eat or cry, or both.

Photography is one of Julia Snoza's favorite stress-relieving activities.

Step 7: And then . . . remember that it's just school; that you do this every year before resuming the routine that you sometimes call "torture"; that you actually enjoy learning and if you're positive about it, this school year will be just fine.

Repeat step 7 until all urges to stab school supplies repeatedly fade away.

If step 7 is not effective, find someone to buy you binders and pens and folders that emit optimism and happy things like kittens and sunshine, and remember - this school year will be over before you know it, getting you one step closer to “freedom”!

Enjoy the summer you have left while you can instead of focusing on the fact that it's ending. I'll still be taking photos, skating at derby practice, acting half my age, and spending far too much time on the internet. And who knows, maybe this year won’t be as bad as you think it will be.

Unless you’re a junior.