One sigh from a friend can say more than a paragraph. Stop and ask.

People rarely announce that they are struggling. It leaks out in small ways, a pause before answering, a joke that lands flat, a sigh they did not mean to let out. Those signals are easy to walk past because nothing was technically said, and because asking feels like it might be intrusive. It almost never is.

When you catch one, stop the conversation and ask plainly. Something simple works best, like noticing out loud that they sound tired and asking what is going on. Be willing to wait through the first answer, which is usually the polite one.