Courtesy of The Weather Channel, edited by yours truly

It starts as every story does: you‰’re fast asleep in your bed dreaming about Chipotle‰’s new delivery service (or is that just me?) and all of the sudden an alarm blares. You begrudgingly roll over to slam down the snooze button, but as you slowly work your eyes open you realize the sound isn‰’t coming from your alarm clock: there‰’s a hurricane on the horizon and you‰’re being let know of it. No, I‰’m not talking about Hurricane Joaquin, because I mean come on, the mild aftermath of that bad boy barely phased us whiny college kids. I‰’m referring to Real Life, the newest natural disaster sweeping the nation and sweeping us right off of our feet.

Summer is officially over and with the coziness of fall comes the craziness of these last few months of the year. Classes are rolling, commitments are growing, and caffeine is flowing. There‰’s a whirlwind of assignments due and a storm of responsibilities–which makes it so much more tempting to slug it out and watch halloween movies all day. The worst part about how overwhelming life is becoming is the fact that you can‰’t stop and escape for awhile; or can you?

Although it‰’s a tad unrealistic with a college student‰’s schedule and lack of funds to take a vacation somewhere tropical and sunny, there‰’s a way to get away from it all while doing it all: the right background noise. When my mind is a million places and I‰’m near the point of giving up and running away to the circus (trust me I‰’ve done my research) the only thing that keeps me from drowning is the perfect playlist.

These miscellaneous chill-electro tracks are the embodiment of the eye of a hurricane: sunny to re-energize yet calm to keep you focused in the wind and rain of productivity. Their steady beats help you stay on some sort of weird repetitive state of concentration and their variations and stimulating lyrics will help keep your brain from turning to mush.

1. Magnets – Disclosure ft. Lorde
2. Fantasy (Felix Jaehn Remix) – Alina Baraz, Galimatias
3. Some Minds – Flume, Andrew Wyatt
4. Affection – Crystal Castles
5. Coffee – Sylvan Esso
6. Too Insistent (TrentmÌüller Remix) – The DÌü
7. Say My Name – Odesza, Zyra
8. Fineshrine – Purity Ring
9. Me the Machine – Imogen Heap
10. Lose It (Jerry Folk Remix) – Oh Wonder

Here‰’s the playlist on Spotify:

Good luck out there in the flash floods, especially those of you coming from sunnier places. When in doubt, drown it out.