hi I'm [Music] [Applause] Taylor last time I was in a stadium this size I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard this outfit is much more comfortable I'm 90% sure the main reason I'm here is because I have a song called 22 and let me just say I am elated to be here with you today as we celebrate and graduate New York University's class of [Applause] 2022 so as a rule I try not to give anyone unsolicited advice unless they ask for it I guess I have been officially solicited in this situation to impart whatever wisdom I might have to tell you things that have helped me so far in my life the first of which is life can be heavy especially if you try to carry it all at once part of growing up and moving into new chapters of your life is about Catch and Release what I mean by by that is knowing what things to keep and what things to release often times the good things in your life are lighter anyway so there's more room for them one toxic relationship can outweigh so many wonderful simple Joys you get to pick what your life has time and room for be Discerning secondly learn to live alongside cringe I'd like to say I'm a big advocate for not hiding your enthusiasm for [Music] things it seems to me that there is a false stigma around eagerness in our culture of unbothered ambivalence this Outlook perpetuates the idea that it's not cool to want it the people who don't try are fundamentally more Chic than people who do never be ashamed of trying the people who wanted it the least were the ones I wanted to date and be friends with in high school the people who want it the most are the people I now hire to work for my company I writed I started writing songs when I was 12 and since then it's been the compass guiding my life and in turn my life guided my writing everything I do is just an extension of my writing and this might sound like a very songwriter Centric line of discussion but in a way I really do think we are all writers and most of us write in a different voice for different situations it's just a continuation of the idea that we are so many things all the time and I know it can be really overwhelming figuring out who to be and when who you are now and how to act in order to get where you want to go I have some good news it's totally up to you I have some terrifying news it's totally up to you my experience has been that my mistakes led to the best things in my life and being embarrassed when you mess up it's part of The Human Experience getting back up dusting yourself off and seeing who still wants to hang out with you afterward and laugh about it that's a gift the times I was told no or wasn't included wasn't chosen didn't win didn't make the cut looking back it really feels like those moments were as important if not more crucial than the moments I was told yes I know I sound like a consummate Optimist but I'm really not I lose perspective all the time sometimes everything just feels completely pointless I know the pressure of living your life through the lens of perfectionism and I know that I'm talking to a group of perfectionists because you are here today graduating from [Applause] NYU so this might be hard for you to hear in your life you will inevitably misspeak trust the wrong person underreact overreact hurt the people who didn't deserve it overthink not think at all self- sabotage create a reality where only your experience exists ruin perfectly good moments for yourself and others deny any wrongdoing not take the steps to make it right feel very guilty let the guilt eat at you hit rock bottom finally address the pain you caused try to do better next time rinse [Music] repeat now you leave the structure and framework of school and chart your own path every choice you make leads to the next choice which leads to the next and I know it's hard to know which path to take there will be times in life where you need to stand up for yourself times when the right thing is actually to back down and apologize times when the right thing is to fight times when the right thing is to turn and run times to hold on with all you have and times to let go with Grace sometimes the right thing to do is to throw out the old schools of thought in the name of progress and reform sometimes the right thing to do is to sit and listen to the wisdom of those who have come before us how will you know what the right choice is in these crucial moments you won't the scary news is you're on your own now but the cool news is you're on your own now [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I leave you with this we are led by our gut instincts our intuition our desires and fears our scars and our dreams and you will screw it up sometimes so will I and when I do you will most likely read about it on the internet anyway hard things will happen to us we will recover we will learn from it we will grow more resilient because of it I hope you know how proud I am to share this day with you we're doing this together so let's just keep dancing like we're the class of 22 [Applause]