Smiling at the masjid while carrying something heavy

I have been coming to the same masjid for years. I tuck my shoes neatly under the rack, smooth my old prayer mat, and greet everyone with a little nod and a smile. People think I am steady. I am a retired doctor, forty years with patients taught me to hold hands and to listen, so I am good at being calm in public. But inside there is a weight that sits under my ribs like a heavy book. The dilemma is simple and stubborn: do I tell the imam or a friend at the masjid and risk changing how they see me, or keep smiling so I do not become someone else’s worry? Has anyone else sat with this choice?