introduce Dr. Taylor Alison Swift!
Swift was the talk of the day on Wednesday, with the 32-year-old singer receiving an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Fine Arts, honorary degree) from New York University’s graduating class of 2022.
“I’m 90 percent sure the main reason I’m here is because I have a song called ’22,'” Swift joked on stage.
The Grammy winner delivered his commencement address at Yankee Stadium and was greeted with enthusiasm by the crowd. While she’s not one to offer “unsolicited advice,” Swift decided to share with her students “some life hacks I wish I knew as I started my career dreams, on life, love, stress, choice , shame, hope and friendship.”
She continued: “The first is…life can be heavy, especially if you’re trying to take on everything at once. Part of growing and entering a new chapter in your life is about capturing and releasing. I mean, knowing what to keep. , to unleash anything. You can’t carry all the stuff, all the resentment, all the latest news about your ex, all the enviable promotion your school bully got at the hedge fund his uncle started,” she shared. “Decide what’s yours and let the rest go. Usually the good things in your life are always easier, so they have more room. A toxic relationship can trump many wonderful, simple pleasures. You can There is time and space to choose your life. Be discerning.”
Swift encourages students to “live with cringe,” because “crinkle is inevitable in a lifetime.”
“For example, I had a phase, and throughout 2012, I dressed like a 1950s housewife. But you know what? I had a lot of fun. Trends and phases are fun. It’s fun to look back and laugh,” she jokes Say.
“I know it’s really hard to figure out who you are and when you were. Who you are now and how you act to get where you want to be. I have some good news: it’s all up to you. I There’s also some scary news: it’s all up to you,” Swift continued.
Swift stressed that she doesn’t like giving “unsolicited advice,” because that’s all the advice she received when she started her career at 15.
“I’ve been the youngest person in every room for over a decade, which means I’ve been receiving constant warnings from older members of the music industry, the media, interviewers and executives. These recommendations often come in the form of veiled warnings. form,” she explained, adding, “As I grew up, I was fed the message that if I didn’t make any mistakes, all the kids in America would grow up to be perfect angels. But if I don’t make any mistakes. I literally slip and the whole earth is going off its axis and it’s all my fault and I’m going to be in pop star prison forever and ever. It all revolves around the idea that mistakes equal failure and ultimately, lose any opportunity for a happy or meaningful life.”
Swift found that wasn’t the case because “mistakes led to the best things in my life.”
“Having the world see my love life as a spectator sport that cost me every game was not a great way to date in my teens and 20s, but it taught me to Firmly protect my private life,” she shared. This can be seen by Swift keeping her relationship with her boyfriend privately (Or maybe a fiancé) Joe Alwyn.
“Being publicly humiliated again and again at a young age was very painful, but it forced me to devalue the ridiculous notions of moment-to-moment, fluctuating social relevance and likeability. Being cancelled on the internet and nearly losing my Career has given me a great knowledge of all types of wine,” she quipped, possibly alluding to her 2016 drama Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
Swift says that despite sounding “like a perfect optimist,” she’s not: “I’m always out of sight. Sometimes everything feels completely pointless.”
“So this can be hard for you to hear: In your life, you inevitably say the wrong thing, believe the wrong people, underreact, overreact, hurt people who don’t deserve it, overthink, don’t think at all , self-sabotage, creating a reality where only your experience exists, ruining your perfect time for yourself and others, denying anything wrong, not doing anything to correct it, feeling so guilty, letting guilt eat you, hitting rock bottom, and finally working it out The pain you cause, try to do better next time, rinse, repeat,” she continued. “And I’m not going to lie, these mistakes cost you something.”
Swift concluded: “I leave you with this: We are guided by our intuitions, intuitions, desires and fears, scars and dreams. You screw it up sometimes. So do I. When I do, You will most likely read about it online. Hard things will happen to us anyway. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will be more resilient because of it. As long as we are lucky enough to be able to breathe, we will Breathe in, breathe out, breathe deeply, breathe out. I’m a doctor now, so I know how breathing works.”
Watch Swift’s commencement address below, starting at 2:51:00:
