Gigi Hadid: ‘I Don’t Always Wake Up Feeling Like the Gigi the World Expects Me to Be’

Gigi Hadid seems like she’s got it all together—she’s Gigi effing Hadid—but while accepting her award at Glamour‘s Women of the Year ceremony on Monday night, the supermodel shared that she doesn’t always feel like “Gigi Hadid, global supermodel.”

“I think my biggest responsibility, standing here, is to all the young women who are watching,” she said, after reading an exhaustive list of thank-yous to fashion-industry icons, as well as her family. “I want to let you know that just because I’m standing here, winning this award, doesn’t mean that I have it all figured out. I’m so grateful for every opportunity, but that doesn’t mean that I wake up feeling like the Gigi the world expects me to be on a daily basis.”

The 22-year-old continued, “If you don’t feel strong every day, that’s OK, and it’s normal. Every day something new can inspire you, and a small thought or idea or action can change the course of your day, your week, your month, your year. You’re never alone, and you’re never stuck, no matter how down you feel.”

Hadid’s ideas for getting unstuck? “Find what puts a pep in your step. React to what’s inspiring you by setting that into motion, creatively or otherwise. Wear something crazy. Go on a walk at sunrise. Donate your time to charity. Spend the day printing out pictures of whatever and make a binder of the hotel you hope to own one day, or the charity you hope to start,” she said. “Whatever makes you excited about your day is important, and your dreams are more powerful beyond materialization of them.”

She said that she also looks to other powerful women for inspiration. “What helps me through stress, anxiety, pressure, mentally, is looking up to other strong women and feeling empowered to change my day through celebrating them,” she said. “Our success is never just about us, it’s also about all women that paved the way so we could be here. It’s about the women we surround ourselves with and the characteristics we value, the inspiration and motivation women everywhere can give us to be better.”

Hadid added, “So tonight, I celebrate all of you being honored and celebrate women all over the world. You help people everywhere to think, ‘Yeah, I can do this,’ whatever ‘this’ may be, and you are among the women that inspired me to better myself and to seize my life. So thank you, and remember that we’re stronger when we celebrate each other.”