It is 100% valid to feel concerned about the increasing futility of needing to essentially be a little media company to increasingly just be competitive to work a half-decent job.
All the same, for the moment, this is the world we live in, so it's best to take a pragmatic approach and do what you can.
Here is some food for thought about how you might want to go about your personal messaging.
Find a way to make a game of your branding process.
And don't over-exert yourself.
What are the buttons you can hit day-in-day-out and not go mad?
What about you, besides your raw technical abilities that you offer the world, could be interesting to your audience?
Have you tried discussing the thing you really would like to discuss but are slightly-too-shy to bring up?
What are the topics you love enough to cover to manage over the long haul?
Just keep taking baby steps
I pray for the day when this process is less vital for surviving the economic landscape and can be done for the love of the game.
Just remember that the lightbulb was invented by candlelight. Do what you can, little by little, to help us all collectively march toward a better future.
This is the way
Con Amor
Always be kind.