When I was in my 20s, I took part in one of those color run 5ks. I was excited, it was going to be amazing!

About halfway through, I rolled my ankle. Badly. (I'm a klutz, this stuff happens...). But the shock then set in and suddenly I was not feeling the badly rolled ankle nearly as much so I decided to walk the rest of the race with my friends. Calling organizers to come get me on one of those carts would have been embarrassing. Stopping midway and hailing a cab to stay off it was expensive.

So I walked at least another 3 miles - to the finish and then on public transit home.

And WOW did I mess up my ankle doing that. It hurt so much after the shock wore off that I could not put any weight on it at all. What might have taken a few days to be a bit better ended up taking weeks.

You know how I could have avoided it? By recognizing that I was hurt and asking for help, rather than limping along pretending everything was okay, because it wasn't.

Now think of that ankle as your brain. There are going to be times that you know your mental health is suffering. And you're limping along for the next 3 miles pretending it's not.

It's going to take a lot longer for it to heal.
Just like an ankle.