Erving Goffman, the Canadian sociologist, built an entire framework around this in his 1956 work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. His argument was elegant and a little unsettling: social life is theatre. We are always performing. Every interaction has a "front stage" where we manage impressions, modulate tone, and curate which parts of ourselves are visible.
When I lost my best friend from college to a slow drift, I spent months analyzing what went wrong. Had I said something offensive? Not been supportive enough? The truth was simpler and more painful: I'd been so focused on fitting into my new work environment that I'd stopped showing up authentically in our friendship. This constant performance of trying to belong is utterly draining.