Flying back from a late holiday to Greece, I barely held it together, having lost my dear little horse Grace while I was away. Her show name was Amazing Grace. She lived up to this in the way she galloped so lightly it was as if her feet didn’t touch the ground. The vet told me I would not believe how many animals choose the time their owner is away to make their exit. Underlying conditions often come to a head as soon as your back is turned – in this case a metabolic malfunction I had carefully kept under control for years led to a sudden colic while friends were looking after her. On the plane, on the train, back at home trying to unpack our suitcases, I kept breaking down, racked with feelings of guilt and regret. And when I could bear to look at the news, it seemed that everyone else was breaking down too. So many of us are complaining of being at the end of our tethers it feels like an epidemic. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are constantly in the media complaining about the strain of being in the media. Assorted celebrities post endlessly on social media about their emotional problems. Mental health has peaked as an issue in the public consciousness. We are all emotionally exhausted and psychologically drained, it would appear. And while our capacity to complain about it publicly might be a good thing, a sign of healthy self-expression, it might also be because we have never before felt so collectively unstable. The sense of the rug being pulled from under us is something we all feel, and it is a mistake to put it down to our own exceptional circumstances. What is making our personal problems feel so unbearable, perhaps, is the underlying current of turbulence. Whatever our personal view, the idea that the Brexit debacle was coming to a head one way or another was the one thing this country might have been able to unite around, in a common sense of relief. However, with yet another extension, the torment is set to continue. This is a high stakes move, even though the Remain side paint it as safer than a hard Brexit. Yes, crashing out of the European Union to trade on World Trade Organisation terms might have been rough for a while, but the sense of instability from an everlasting seeming delay is far worse. All politics is personal. And the impact on the public mood of a constantly deferred Brexit – of that plaster being torn painfully bit by bit instead of being ripped off – is potentially far more significant than any economic uncertainty. As we stare down the barrel of another extension, it is starting to look like a nation’s mental health is at stake.