If I could successfully change my image as much as Taylor Swift has, I would never keep an elective for more than a semester and I would try out every club that exists. We should all respect Swift a little more than we do, not for her music necessarily, but for her ability to gracefully evolve as a human being.

Swift has been in the spotlight for most of her life. Students only have to imagine what it would be like to wake up tomorrow and be on the cover of a magazine to understand how young she was when she started her career. If the whole world saw me as how I was as a freshman or sophomore, they would be missing the best parts of me.

Swift has never let the public remember her as the sweet, curly kid who probably was confused about how the lunch line worked.

Every piece of art she puts out grows with her and she’s not afraid about what others will say when she goes from a traditional country love song to an angry grunge rap. Many modern artists are forced into one genre for their entire careers so that they can keep making a living. Swift doesn’t play by those rules.

Alright, so we can consider respecting our friend Taylor a little more. But, that also means more for our own lives.

Originally, I wanted this realization to act as an excuse to be flaky. But instead, we can let it remind us that not everything is permanent. Maybe we shouldn’t create a cycle of weekly schedule changes, but we could be better at recognizing when classes aren’t working for us. Maybe, we can’t handle a schedule built up of 17 clubs, but we can show up to informational meetings for ones we are curious about.

Maybe, Taylor Swift isn’t a pro at trying on different masks, but rather a pro at listening to herself, which is something we could all get better at.