DEEP BREATHING WITH THE DOCTOR

If Dr. Taylor Swift says deep breathing is good, then breathe deeply.

She gave the commencement speech for NYU class of 2022 at Yankee Stadium.

Do you remember who gave the speech at your graduation?

Mine was former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts.

She was a good pick, but let’s admit she’s no Taylor Swift.

The thing about this celebrity speech at a prestigious university was the length. She went sixteen big blocks of text long to embrace education.

She didn’t just pop in, collect an honorary doctorate, and rush to her next show biz appointment.

She started with:

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’d like to say a huge thank you to NYU‘s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Bill Berkeley and all the trustees and members of the board, NYU’s President Andrew Hamilton, Provost Katherine Fleming, and the faculty and alumni here today who have made this day possible.

I feel so proud to share this day with my fellow honorees Susan Hockfield and Felix Matos Rodriguez, who humble me with the ways they improve our world with their work.

As for me, 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 2022.

She sounds pretty great, doesn’t she?

Then she finished with the kicker:

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 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.

As long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out. And I’m a doctor now, so I know how breathing works.

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.

Let the deep breathing begin.