A Certain Point of View...

I think that what you get out of life depends on what you put into it, and the color on the glasses you use to view it all. If someone really wants to be sad, they will, no matter how you try to cheer them up. And if someone wants to be happy, then it doesn't matter what you do, they'll be happy. They may be annoyed at you, but they'll be happy, too.
You have to decide how you're going to live your life. It doesn't matter what anyone else says, it is your life, and you have the right to live it however you see fit. And while there is a fine line between gaining your independance and being rebelliously destructive, it's worth trying to walk that line, rather than to be stuck in someone else's plans and dreams for your life instead of listening to your own.
Life would be so much easier if everyone wasn't telling you what they thought you should do, and just accepting you for who you are. Find your own destiny, and live it with every beat of your heart, and every breath you manage to breath, no matter how difficult it may be at times. Live your life, and use it to make a positive difference in someone else's. If no one cares whether or not you're alive, what's the point of living? Make people care, make it so they can't help but to care, they just have to, because that's the kind of person you are. Don't be afraid to be different, and don't be afraid to make a difference. Be your own individual, not a mold off the shelf that will receive a form-style sermon when you've moved beyond this spinning planet.
Don't be afraid to get to know people, and don't be afraid to let them get to know you. Sometimes I have difficulty opening my soul to anyone else, I am known to be a bit of a recluse. But the friends I do share my innermost thoughts with are the ones I am the closest to. Is this because we're close friends, so I trust them enough to share what I'm thinking? Or are we close friends because we shared our thoughts and dreams first? I don't know the answer to this question, all I know is that you can't have one without the other. If you only let people know what you're like on the outside, then you'll never really know each other; you're just building fortifications to keep out unwanted visitors, and so no one will visit, or seek your close friendship. To win friends, to make a difference, to really be you, you have to learn to take risks. And if they don't like who you are on the inside, are they really worthy of your friendship, anyway?
The bravest people in the world are the people who aren't afraid to take risks, and yet afraid to take them at the same time. They know the consequences, they weigh their options, and they decide that in order to succeed they have to make a leap of faith. Don't be afraid to take that leap of faith. Just don't look down, don't doubt yourself, know the risks you're taking and the consequences of failure and just decide that you're going to try. "It is better to have loved and lost than never loved at all," some say, and I agree. And it is better to have tried and failed than to never try at all. At least then you won't live your life wondering "What if?" Don't live your life walking backwards.
It is also said that the saddest words in the English language are "What if?" "What if I had done this? What if I had tried that?" Stop wondering, stop second-guessing, stop pitying yourself for your mistakes, stop walking backwards, and just live. Take risks, make your own mistakes, live a little, laugh a lot, fall and get up and fall and get up again. What use is life if you've never made mistakes? And yet learn from them. Don't make the same mistakes over and over again. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try something different. "What if I try this instead...?" Those are the "What ifs" I like to utilize. "What if I do this instead of that, and then I try this, and then maybe it'll work if I..."
Don't be afraid to dream big. Don't be afraid to fail. And if you are afraid, then be brave. Pick yourself up, push yourself forward, and jump into something it's worthwhile trying.
Forge your own future. And don't be afraid to accumulate a few scrapes and scars, they're reminders of mistakes made and lessons learned and new things to try. Just as scar tissue is stronger, mistakes make us stronger, until nothing can stand in the way once we decide that something must be done.
Have the courage to take on the impossible. And the inner strength and confidence to win. And then life will be yours for the living.