Taylor Swift's Top 10 Tips for Living Your Best Life

Taylor Swift is all about positivity, and this tip is a great way to add a little bit of joy to your life on a daily basis. Whether it’s an upcoming vacation or just a fun evening you have planned with friends, consider starting a digital countdown to get you amped up as the day approaches. Swift says she uses phone apps so she can always be looking forward to something in the future, adding, “Sometimes we can get overwhelmed in the now, and it’s good to get some perspective that life will always go on, to better things.”

If you’ve been following celebrity news for the last decade, you know Tay Tay has been through her fair share of feuds and drama, but sometimes a simple apology can make it all better. Swift says that when you’ve caused someone around you pain, it’s always best to apologize, even if hurting them wasn’t intentional. She adds that it’s important to make sure your apology is sincere, and avoiding phrases like “I’m sorry, but...” where you give justifications for your actions. This advice may sound simple, but that doesn’t make it any less important.

When you open a magazine, drive by a billboard or spend more than five minutes online, you’ll inevitably be bombarded with advertisements touting anti-aging products for women. The catch is though, everyone ages! It’s unavoidable. Swift says, “I’ve learned that society is constantly sending very loud messages to women that exhibiting the physical signs of aging is the worst thing that can happen to us.” She cites actress Jameela Jamil as an influence that she feels akin to on this matter. Hearing a celebrity open up on this topic is encouraging, and gives us hope that this attitude will undergo some change in the future.

It seems that as she approaches 30, Swift has really matured when it comes to conflict in relationships. She reminds her fans how important it is to remember that you’re on the same team as your partner when you’re fighting, and that focusing on “winning” an argument never gets you anywhere. She mentions that it’s always good to de-escalate the tension in an argument so that you can truly listen to one another. She also threw in this pearl of wisdom: “They don’t give out awards for winning the most fights in your relationship. They just give out divorce papers.”

Swift knows that there are a lot of young people who follow and idolize her, and she has some advice for anyone dealing with bullying. She suggests that you fight their negativity with laughter, and don’t let them think they’re being taken seriously. As an example, Swift mentions the campaign that was started online referring to her as a “snake”, which took off and became a well known insult. In response, she embraced the imagery of the serpent and has even used it on her concert tours. She said, “I had to keep from laughing every time my 63-foot inflatable cobra named Karyn appeared onstage in front of 60,000 screaming fans.”

At this point, as she’s approaching 30, Taylor Swift is officially ready to clear the drama out of her life. It may come as a surprise since the performer has been embroiled in so much drama over the years, but we can imagine that it gets kind of tiring. She suggests cutting people out who are negative forces in your life, saying, “If someone in your life is hurting you, draining you, or causing you pain in a way that feels unresolvable, blocking their number isn’t cruel.” While it may seem like a power move, sometimes it’s the only way to put an end to things.

Taylor Swift has had an interesting relationship with social media, to say the least. She famously shut down all of her accounts at one point, and deleted all of the photos on her Instagram. She now uses the platforms more sparingly than other celebs do, and she explained why in the Elle piece. We all know that social media can hurt our self confidence, and she recommends being careful with how you use it. She mentioned that turning off comments on her posts has been liberating, because it means she isn’t (even inadvertently) waiting for validation from the comments.

At the beginning of her career, Taylor Swift was known for her sweet and innocent image, which is something that has changed in recent years. In the Elle article, she opens up about this, saying that being too nice has actually proven to be a disadvantage for her, because she often went too far, letting people take advantage of her kindness. After following her career all this time, we can think of a few examples of what she’s talking about. Using the serpent imagery again, she says, “Be like a snake—only bite if someone steps on you.”

While people love to talk about Taylor Swift’s romantic life, she doesn’t get into it much in this Elle piece. She does allude to some things though, in a section where she talks about not letting the opinions of others influence the major decisions you make in life. She mentions that she used to really care what people thought about the guys she was dating, and that she would take those opinions to heart. But she finished by saying, “For an approval seeker like me, it was an important lesson for me to learn to have my OWN value system of what I actually want.”

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Accept Your Body

Learn the Difference Between Lifelong Friendships & Situationships

Get to Know Someone Before Jumping in Headfirst

Take Off Your Makeup

Don't Play Mind Games

Taylor Swift’s career may seem like it has been a classic success story, so it’s interesting that the singer has advice to give on failure. But the reality is, every time she suffers from a failure, it is highlighted for all to see in the media. But, she says that failure shouldn’t always been put in a negative light, and that every setback you have should be seen as a learning experience. In case you were looking for the support, she says, “No, this is not an excuse to text your ex right now. That’s not what I said. Or do it, whatever, maybe you’ll learn from it.”