The best thing I ever sis for myself and my future was to reate a metaphor for me. it came to me wayching a Start Trek episode, where captain Kirk and the captain of an alien spaceship were stuck on a planet. The alien captain spoke words Kirk understood but they made no sense to him. They were metaphors based on a the alien's history and environment. I don't remeber the name of that episode.
So, after thinking a lot about what I wanted and needed to be , I came up with my personal metaphor: I live my life with my arms wide open. And the im,age in my head is me stading there holding my arms wide: ready for all comers.
It has held true for over forty years now.

I could never be that kind of person and it’s an even quicker way to get me to avoid anyone like the plague.

I’d want the world see me crying in emotional pain than to believe that I’m perfectly happy and living a perfect life.

This is why we have people we know kill them selves and everyone who supposedly knew them say that they had no idea that there was anything wrong.

So no “ faking it “ does nothing for those who are actually suffering but only those who need for you to make them feel about how they affect you.

That's not a new concept but I think it works very well. It has been advice given to a lot of people who become fearful or lack confidence is certain situations. The suggestion is that one plays the role of a very confident person. Just totally fake it which is frequently much easier than it might seem. Sooner of later it will occur to that person that appearing confident is simply the way one chooses to act and they are (or can be) pretty much as confident as they chose. I see no major leap between confidence and happiness. I am, however, a believer that we generate our own general happiness almost no matter how favorable our lives turn out. I can definitely see happiness growing out of simply acting happier.

I don't like this expectation that we are supposed to be happy all the time, 24 hours a day. It's not a true indicator if you are 'faking' it. I think this feeling may go back to my childhood with my sisters when we were often encouraged to smile when we didn't even feel like smiling. Happiness should be genuine. Humans have a wide range of emotions and shouldn't be trying to please others all the time by constantly appearing cheerful and happy. It's kind of like Stepford Wives to me now that I think about it.

The only problem with this is that the only people who know you are faking are the people who actually know something worth knowing. Everyone else knows nothing so can't tell that you are faking. They might have the power to promote you, though.