"Ultimately, what is your life if not one you want to lead?" I asked that of myself once in a moment of thoughtfulness, and I haven't been able to get the question out of my head.
You don't take money or status with you in the end...in the end all you are is a combination of your experiences, your wisdom, and your joy. Why spend YOUR life trying to make other people happy? If someone does something in their life that their friends don't approve of, they hear about it, and their friends get mad at them for making said choice. Who is it that has to live with the consequences (or successes) of that choice? Not the friends.
What do you gain in