We treat needing help as a kind of failing — as if the goal were to manage everything alone, and asking were an admission you couldn't. So we carry things long past the point they were carryable.
Most people, asked sincerely, feel trusted rather than burdened — being asked is closer to a compliment than an imposition. The reluctance is almost always ours, not theirs. We protect a self-image at the cost of the very closeness that would lighten the load.
Asking isn't weakness. It's how people become close, and how heavy things get lighter. The strong ones aren't those who never need help; they're the ones who'll ask.