The Most Inspiring Takeaways from Doctor Taylor Swift’s Graduation Speech

"I'm 90 per cent sure the main reason I'm here is because I have a song called 22."

Taylor Swift has finally joined the league of celebs donned with honorary doctorates, like Aretha Franklin, Kanye West and Ed Sheeran.

The red-lipped singer-songwriter took to the Yankees Stadium stage on Wednesday—but not for one of her usual show-stopping performances.

She joined students from the New York University graduating classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022 to receive her degree and give a soul-stirring commencement speech. (FYI, this is the same university teaching an official Taylor Swift class).

We’ve condensed her sage advice into some key takeaways for anyone graduating this year, whether from primary school, high school, university or TAFE.

But let’s be real—there’s something in here for everybody.

“Not a single one of us here today has done it alone.”

Taylor began her speech by keeping it real and reminding us of where we all came from.

“We’re made up of everyone who has supported and loved us along the way,” she said.

“I hope you’ll find your own way to express your gratitude.”

“You get what you get.”

Taylor recognised that not everyone has had a normal college experience, especially herself.

“I went to public high school until tenth grade and finished my education doing home-school work on the floors of airport terminals,” she recounted.

Meanwhile, most of the students in attendance had battled with the whole p*ndemic thing, “being essentially locked into dorms or having to do classes over Zoom.”

She continued, “but in this case, you and I both learned that you don’t always get all the things in the bag that you selected from the menu in the delivery service that is life… you should be very proud of what you’ve done with it.”

“Learn to live alongside cringe.”

Taylor advised everyone against that, saying “no matter how hard you try to avoid being cringe, you will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively. Cringe is unavoidable over a lifetime.

“I promise you, you’re probably doing or wearing something right now that you will look back on later and find revolting and hilarious. You can’t avoid it, so don’t try to.”

“Scary news is: You’re on your own now. Cool news is: You’re on your own now.”

Trying new things, making mistakes, and recovering from them are all parts of this thing called life.

Taylor said “hard things will happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it.”

Header image: @TheSwiftSociety via Twitter (edited).