"Somehow, still have to find the strength to move through another day," wrote the model, who's been open about her journey with Lyme disease
Credit: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Bella Hadid shared an emotional message about the challenges of living with Lyme disease and chronic illness on her Instagram Stories on Thursday, June 25
- She described the physical and mental toll of flare-ups, including pain, exhaustion, and feelings of isolation
- Hadid encouraged others struggling with similar issues, “You will make it through every season life puts you through”
Bella Hadid is opening up about the mental toll of living with a chronic illness.
On Thursday, June 25, the 29-year-old model posted a series of Instagram Stories opening up about a recent flare-up related to her Lyme disease diagnosis. She began the posts with a long message, explaining how "intimidating" it is to explain her symptoms of pain, exhaustion, fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, infections, and trauma, and how they lead "to severe isolation and depression, especially over long periods of time."
"Especially when you try anything you can," she continued, noting she's read books and stories to learn more about self-diagnosis and symptoms, yet still has moments where she experiences setbacks. "You demand answers that no one can find. You fight. You finally have a few good days. You think you've found the right protocol, the right routine, the right treatment… and then a flare up comes back and all of a sudden nothing feels certain again."
She explained that due to flare-ups, she cancels plans and is unable to make decisions because she "never" knows how she will feel each day. "You wake up with anxiety already living in your body," Hadid wrote. "Physical pain before your feet even touch the floor….And somehow, still have to find the strength to move through another day in a body and mind that are completely exhausted."
The model said that she's learned to mask her unexplained feelings. "Sometimes it feels like unless you've lived something like this, or loved someone who has, it's impossible to fully understand."
Credit: Bella Hadid/Instagram
She reminded her followers who are also struggling that "there is light, even if you can't see it today… There is hope," before sharing a message she often tells herself when she feels at her lowest.
"As so many have said..I have to remind myself that healing isn't linear…I believe God puts before us, somehow, only what we are capable of carrying, even when we don't understand why at the time," she wrote, saying there's a "deeper purpose to all things in life."
Hadid acknowledged that although it is hard, she believes "every hardship leaves us with a lesson, a deeper compassion, or a strength we never knew we had."
Credit: Bella Hadid/Instagram
"It leads us to the places and people and experience we have now.. I have so much gratitude for life, but without living in a body that has more rough days than good," she continued. "It's hard to find joy or purpose or reason to even go outside…but we will keep trying! always!"
She concluded her initial post with a note for her supporters who may be experiencing rough times. "You are loved. You are needed. Your life has purpose. And you will make it through every season life puts you through…love you and hold you deeply."
In a follow-up photo, Hadid said she found joy in the little things. She posted a snap of her posing in a Star Wars themed robe, and wrote, "Although this Barefoot Dreams kids poncho does make everything a li better 🥹."
Hadid also reposted a friend's Instagram Stories promoting Hadid's perfume brand, Orebella, and thanked her team for helping her with the brand. "It makes me emotional….," she wrote in part. "Thank you to my tribe for keeping me afloat."
Credit: Bella Hadid/Instagram
Her Instagram Stories continued with a close-up selfie of her crying, in which she shared she can't "shake off" this flare-up, explaining she slept 11 hours and keeps napping.
"Took every protocol from any and every doctor I've seen. Still nothing helping," she wrote, confessing she's now "diagnosed myself with 12 other things, so that's good."
She also revealed how she "was out of breath walking to the kitchen."
Credit: Bella Hadid/Instagram
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"I don't think there's a singular brain cell in there working and my last two are beefing with each other," she continued. "I took a shower without fainting tho… so again, if you know you know….that felt like a really big accomplishment for me today."
She then shared two reels to her Instagram Stories, in which a content creator, Oliver George, shares the difficulty of living with chronic illness, poking fun at the constant exhaustion and their ability to manage their symptoms.
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