It has been a whirlwind decade for Miroslava Duma, the 34-year-old influencer who kicked off the 2010's by establishing herself as one of Fashion Week's foremost street style stars.

Since then, she has founded a fashion and lifestyle website, Buro 24/7, and a venture capital fund, Future Tech Lab. (And while unwittingly, she has also entered the broader political discourse, from weathering accusations of racism, homophobia, and transphobia to making a surprise cameo in the Mueller Report.)

But that is apparently just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Duma has been dealing with behind the scenes. On Sunday, she shared with her 1.6 million Instagram followers that earlier this year, she was diagnosed with "a rare lung disease" and given seven months to live.

The current status of Duma's health remains unclear, but the tone of her statement is upbeat: "It was crazy scary then," Duma continued. "But looking back, I realise that the past few months of recovery were possibly the happiest months of my entire life."

The health scare, Duma explained, prompted her to take a step back and reevaluate her influencer identity, as well as her overall outlook on existence. "My entire life I was seeking approval and obsessing over 'likes' both in the physical and virtual worlds, without realizing that I actually had to learn how to 'like' myself first," Duma wrote. "Years of self criticism and doubt, stress, dieting, physically, mentally and emotionally pushing and pushing myself got my immune system to collapse and I had made myself fatally sick."

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Earlier this year I was diagnosed with a rare lung disease, and given 7 months to live. It was crazy scary then, but looking back, I realise that the past few months of recovery were possibly the happiest months of my entire life. I suddenly stopped running the marathon and realized how much I love life, how beautiful our world is and how much I want to stay here. With the people I love. For the first time in my life, I saw the bright blue of the skies. And the beautiful green of the trees. As if I had lived on a different planet before. I wake up happy, just because I can spend one more day here. Not asking for more or trying to run faster. My entire life I was seeking approval and obsessing over “likes” both in the physical and virtual worlds, without realizing that I actually had to learn how to “like” myself first. Years of self criticism and doubt, stress, dieting, physically, mentally and emotionally pushing and pushing myself got my immune system to collapse and I had made myself fatally sick. I now realise that these past months were also the most creative months of my entire 34 years. Yet success to me today is not measured by external indicators anymore, but by what’s inside. It is measured by my own health, and the health of those I love. It is measured by how I choose to contribute to the world. For the past 2 years, the Universe caused me to experience a number of remarkably serendipitous events that sometimes felt surreal; like how a silly mistake, made by my lawyer, led me to an early diagnosis, and gave me a chance to live. I saw signs everywhere. As if someone was telling me: “don’t give up”. Today I continue to follow my big dream, and genuinely believe it can help save our planet. No matter what. And against all odds. One day I hope I’ll be able to tell you all about it. And most importantly: Thank you to all the wonderful people in my life, I love you with all my heart (and my lungs ?).

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Duma, who was seemingly as active as ever on Instagram over the past seven months, did not get into specifics as to how she was eventually able to bounce back. (Though she did say that "a silly mistake, made by my lawyer, led me to an early diagnosis, and gave me a chance to live.")

Instead, she chose to focus on the present: "I suddenly stopped running the marathon and realized how much I love life … I wake up happy, just because I can spend one more day here. Not asking for more or trying to run faster."

As for the future, Duma wrote that she'll "continue to follow [her] big dream," which she "genuinely believe[s]" can help save the planet. Since she isn't ready to share it just yet, she concluded by thanking "all the wonderful people" in her life: "I love you with all my heart (and my lungs ?)."

Related: How Miroslava Duma Ended Up in the Mueller Report

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