It seems like as we grow up we are taught to constantly seek approval and acceptance. We want to hear a "yes" instead of a "no." We want to be validated and praised every time we do something right, according to what someone else told us to do. But who wants to live their whole life as a puppet on someone else's strings? You need to stop living for others and start living for yourself.
If you want to take a year off of school, or quit your job and go backpacking through Europe, don't ask others what they think about it. Pack a duffle bag, buy a one-way plane ticket and just go. If you think it's a good idea, then why does it matter whether or not someone else does? It doesn't. You can wait around forever hoping that one day it will be socially acceptable to live the life you have always dreamed of living. Odds are it never will be, so you might as well start living it sooner rather than later.
Start living your life the way you have always wanted to. Join that yoga class you have been thinking about trying, apply for your dream job and don't be embarrassed if you don't get it. Start doing the things you have wanted to do and going the places you have wanted to go. Don't let others discourage you longer than they already have.
This is your life, this is your one chance. If you make a few mistakes along the way, so what? They are your mistakes and not anyone else's.
Once you start living your life for just yourself, you will realize how much greater the world seems. An endless amount of opportunities, and nothing holding you back from them. Your life will become so much bigger and so much brighter once you truly start living your life for yourself and nobody else.