Needing support shouldn't mean losing yourself

It starts with the big things. The job, the plans, the nights out you'd have said yes to without thinking.

Then it comes for the small ones.

For me it was the shoes I loved but can't walk in. The outfits that don't survive a flare. The hobbies that cost more spoons than I've got.

Bit by bit my life filled up with things I needed, and there was less room for the things that were just me.

Compression socks are one of the things you need. A lot of us wear them most days.

The issue is that almost everything made for bodies like ours is made to be practical and nothing else.

Nobody designing it stopped to think the person wearing it might love colour, or have a wicked sense of humour, or have spent years building a style they were proud of.

But no one was designing compression that looked like me. So I wore what was available, and looked a bit less like myself and a bit more like my illness.

And the kicker is, it spreads. You stop bothering with the nice top because nothing goes with those sad beige socks. You start dressing to be comfortable and invisible.

That isn't vanity. That's another piece of you going quiet.

Don't get me wrong, socks aren't going to hand you your old life back.

But getting yourself back doesn't happen in one big moment. It happens in small ones.

It's looking down at leopard print on a day you feel rubbish, and smiling anyway.

It's a stranger saying "I love your socks" and getting to talk about something you chose.

As one person put it: "Every time I put on these socks I am reminded of what a bad‑ass I am!"

The illness is still there. So am I. Both get to be true.

They do everything compression socks are meant to do. The difference is how you feel when you're wearing them.

They're covered in space, dinosaurs, sharks and leopard print, so the thing you have to put on every day becomes something you actually want to put on.

That's the whole point. Not much about being chronically ill is a choice. This bit is.

Have a look and see which one makes you smile first. That's usually the one.

Trusted by thousands of people who wear compression every day.

I'm chronically ill too, and I found that having something I actually wanted to wear not only meant I used the thing that helps, but I found a little bit of myself again too.

Buy 3 pairs and get 1 free, with 15% off on top.

Four pairs means you aren't washing the same pair every night, which saves your spoons, and you've got a print for every kind of day.