There comes a time in everyone’s life when they doubt who they are and their very purpose in the world. For some retreating into their turtle shell and doing what everyone tells them to do seems like the best option. But this isn’t the way to go about it. You should never allow other people to push you down or discourage you from doing what you want to do. There are those individuals who are always ready to attack and criticize you simply because they feel insecure or wish they had something you have that they don’t have. If there are such characters in your life, ignore them and choose to be happy. Don’t change so people will like you. Rather, be yourself and the right people will love the real you. If you fail, you will be criticized, and if you succeed you will be criticized, you can never make everyone happy. So do what makes you happy and done with all the rest.

Happiness, understood to be the state of feeling joy or pleasure, feels good and it's good for you. In fact, positive psychology has provided strong evidence that doing that which makes you happy brings desirable benefits such as longer life, better mental, physical and emotional health, improved immunity, enhanced creativity, and successful relationships. You should strive to do what makes you happy in life because everything happiness brings with-it is good for anyone.

Productive Life
Choosing to do what makes you happy enhances productivity—positive thoughts result in positive actions which improve productivity. Happy workers succeed in almost everything that they do. They're more satiated with their respective jobs, and it is needless to say that more happiness realizes higher productivity. What is more, more happiness realizes higher income—a study conducted on 272 workers over 18 months revealed that the happier workers got higher pay and better job evaluations. If you are happy with what you are doing in life, you will be more active, more optimistic, and more willing to make that extra effort to achieve your goals.

Longer Life
According to a study conducted by Mayo Clinic, happy people tend to live longer than constantly unhappy and pessimistic individuals. A long-term writing study conducted on about 180 Catholic nuns found that 90 percent of nuns with positive emotions-in-their writing (autobiographies) lived-to-age 85 or longer. And 54 percent lived to-age 94 or beyond. In contrast, only 34 percent of the less-cheerful-nuns-were alive at age 85 with 11 percent getting to age 94.
The general conclusion from the above studies was that your subjective well-being—feeling positive about your life, not depressed, not stressed out—greatly contributes to both better health and longevity among healthy populations.

Look Young, Feel Young, and Be Attractive
Who wouldn’t want to look young and fresh in today’s fashion conscious world? A young and refreshing look will afford you many glances from the crowd and make you feel appreciated. Being happy makes you look young and fresh, which in turn make you more attractive. A smiling, cheerful, attractive individual is much more worthwhile to befriend and talk to than a gloomy, miserable one.

Better Health
Doing that which makes you happy is essential to better health. According to a particular survey, more than 2,200 people were subjected to a test for positive emotion—another way of indicating happiness—and subsequently tracked for 24 months. The survey revealed that happy individuals were 50 percent more likely-to-live and 50 percent less likely-to-become disabled. It was also revealed that happy people tend to have stronger and reliable immune systems than unhappy people.
Happy, positive thoughts induce the production of chemicals in your body that enhance cell repair, immunity, and building strength. Moreover, happiness is strongly linked to optimism. Optimists see good things as permanent and bad things as temporary. As an optimist, your positive expectation of good things will help you see and act on opportunities and options faster. Happiness will also improve your ability to learn and remember things.

Conclusion
Very often, most of us fail to do what makes us happy for fear of what others might think or say about us. Thus, we end up living their life and not the life we want. What anyone else thinks or says about you should never deter you from doing that which makes you happy. So, what makes you happy? Is it cooking, painting, or gardening? Or is it something more exotic? Whatever it is, go after it and make it happen.

Author's Bio: 

My name is Frans Bouckenooghe, born in Roeselare, Belgium.
In 1980, I immigrated with my Rarotongan (Cook Islands) wife Tangata and two children to New Zealand.
I am a self employed Registered Building Surveyor. I identify and report on building defects. I love my work.
Besides work, I enjoy company of family and friends, travelling, writing and photography.

I believe that little can be accomplished in life without some investment in yourself. Keep fit, consume right, practice kindness, remain positive, and keep your curiosity up. Treat these things as similarly important to love and friendship and I think you have a much better chance to lead a happy life.

For more inspirational and motivational reading please visit my website and facebook page

http://www.spiritualsuspense.com
http://www.primewellnesslink.com
www.facebook.com/motivationahead

Take care.........Frans