Hey there, lovely lady. Did you have a good weekend? I had a very good weekend. I'm thinking about clues and envy, although I usually use envy as a slightly different signal. I'll write more about that later. I wanted to respond to your fear of smugness, though. (And throw out a thought on inauthenticity.)
Smugness doesn't come from having a great life. Smugness comes from having a great life and thinking you deserve it because of some special merit that other people don't have. You DO deserve a great life, because everyone deserves a great life. When you have happiness, built on knowing what is important to you and what restores your soul and what fulfills your interest, it would be ungrateful to deny that happiness. We were born middle class in a rich nation; we aren't scrounging for food or shelter; if we have the potential to be happy, it would be the height of insult to people without our great good fortune to be so comparatively wealthy and yet miserable. We should say "Yes, we can make ourselves happy. We should do that and bring as many other people with us as possible. We were very lucky and wish this same luck on everyone." Smugness would disdain others who haven't built on luck, notice and enjoy any relative advantage, and think it says something favorable about the happy person. I have no fear you will do any of those things. I am not worried about your potential descent into smugness, even if you are happy.
I learned a lot from your old blog, especially about exposing fears and being vulnerable. You also wrote about your temptation to present a fabulous front, which is so interesting to me. I do that too, but I hadn't noticed that I do it, or ever considered whether other people do that. I had just assumed that their lives really were as fabulous as they presented. I still don't think I detect it very well, which is why I was so interested that one of my girlfriends cannot stand Facebook for that exact reason. It was nearly immediately aversive to her. She can barely stand to see people only showing the flattering pictures of the families doing quirky unique things. She looked at the fantastic parties and witty updates and she was DONE with Facebook. She doesn't believe what she sees, so she wants no part of it.
You arrived at your drive for authenticity by thinking about it, and she just knew instantly, and I follow slowly behind my girlfriends, learning a lot. But really, sugar. I do not think you are prone to smugness and you have derived some guidance on inauthenticity. Are those current fears of yours? Are they leftovers? If they slow you down, I'd say you should wonder whether you need those concerns in your life.