Could you tell me about the last time you cried?

The last time I cried was a few weeks ago when I was on a busy Easyjet flight on my way home. After a stressful few months in both my personal and academic life, I was listening to a voice message from a close friend who was being supportive and lovely - it all felt too much in that moment.

I never used to be a ‘cryer’. Not much moved me to tears.. so much so that my friends would joke about my seemingly detached and emotionless exterior. But these days, the tears hit me at unexpected and sometimes inappropriate moments.

I have struggled with episodes of anxiety and depression over the last two years. These feelings sometimes manifest themselves in uncontrollable crying.

There is nothing worse than feeling your eyes welling up and your throat catching - especially when you are in a public place surrounded by strangers. You feel embarrassed, you feel like people will look at you. Your ultimate fear is that someone will ask you what is wrong.

I have nothing against crying - I think that it can be cathartic and liberating. Often you feel better after a good cry!

But, if you feel that you are crying uncontrollably and without an obvious reason, it is probably worth checking in with yourself, and considering how your mental health is doing. This is something that I used to push to the very bottom of my internal to-do list - thinking about your state of mind is quite a difficult thing to do, as you might have to admit to yourself that something isn’t right.

But pausing from your busy life to reflect on how you feel is incredibly important and something we should all be doing more often I think.

After going through some particularly difficult periods of mental health, I know the signs to look out for in the future. When I feel that the tears are falling more often than usual and without any particular reason, I know that it’s time to take a step back and consider how I am really feeling.