Most of us "perform" our happiness for others, to a certain extent, anyway—carefully curating our Instagram photos and tweets to paint a picture of our life that reflects our experiences—just not all of them.
This is pretty normal and probably predates social media. It's human nature to want to make a good impression on others. But personal branding can take this inclination to a new level—especially when you work for yourself. Independent workers don't craft online personas to make us feel good or to make others jealous, we do it so we can make a living.
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