Imagine this it’s Saturday morning and the weekend has finally arrived. Normally, you would be at home binging a new Netflix show at this time, yet one of your friends just texted you and said that they’re coming to pick you up. Maybe you guys are on the way to the beach, possibly a party, even the grocery store but it doesn’t really matter because all that matters is that you’re in the car. You both are racing down the highway with not a single care in the world. Until it happens, just as the stresses of life seem to leave you, your friend begins to pass you the daunting and tragic aux cord. Now you are faced with the grave question that we all must ask ourselves: what do I play in the car?

I have found myself in this situation multiple times and have experienced the pressures that come with choosing the perfect car playlist. When you’re in a car, one of the only pass times that make car rides enjoyable is the music and everyone knows that. So when the responsibility falls onto your shoulders, here are some of the steps I’d advise you to take.

First, once you grab onto the aux cord, simply take a deep breath and evaluate. Who’s in the car? Where are you going? How long is this torturous aux cord experience going to last? When the answers to these questions start to file in you should find yourself with a sense of what songs might possibly work for you. Perhaps, you are going on a long drive or heading to the beach. For those instances it’s most recommended to find the most head banging, windows down, lung screaming songs which are normally found in the throwback genre. If it’s a rainy day and the drive doesn’t seem to excruciatingly long, then that’s when the vibey work of Clairo, Cuco or Tyler the Creator may find a place in your car. Now, if you are heading to a party, you want to play music that bumps hard and awakens the rappers within everyone. Although, by simply evaluating the variables that play a role in your car ride it’s fairly easy to decide on the perfect playlist.

Now, if you’re still at a loss even after your evaluation process then we must move onto the second step. This is when Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube join the party. All you need to do is choose one or two great songs and these life savers take care of the rest. Based off of the few songs that you choose these apps will queue similar songs to play afterwards and an entire car playlist is created without any stress or anxiety taking over.

Although, let’s say for whatever reason that both of these steps have still failed you. There is one more possibility. It’s a final plea to prevent aux cord hell, and a conclusion I have reached time and time before. You must simply scream in denial stating that you’re too indecisive and throw the aux cord aggressively back to your friend or to any other unlikely passenger in the car — it works like a charm. Once you reach this step you most definitely won’t have to worry about aux cord traumas any longer and that is how you survive when deciding what songs to play in the car.