By “main measure in life” do you mean “how do you define success or fulfillment”? Or do you mean something else?

If by "main measure" you mean what I consider to be the most important thing to me that would be to just live. To 'just be'. That is the real jewel of being in this universe.

If life is a race, and this is a big IF, it is to merely saunter maybe 100 meters at any speed. It doesn't matter what finishing position you come in so long as you just get there at your own pace. Others are convinced the 100-meter finish line is not real and that it is a marathon. Eventually they may find there is no other finish line, all the while trying to convince you that there is one.

Is there anything I regretted NOT doing, given what I knew at the time.

To be a human being and not a human doing.

just to be, it isnt as simple as its sounds, it takes work and committment.

I am lucky that I spent 20 years in personal therapy, which helped to uncover who I was and what I wanted. I had to disguard all the introjected shit that I had accumulated throughout my life and basically start again.

what is the measure of the man?

when i was a young man I thought it was to be a provider, bring in as much money as I could to pay the mortgage, feed my family and keep them in good health. Work, work, work, work, 7 days a week.

Many years after my first divorce I asked my ex-partner why we split. she told me that I was never there, you cannot have a relationship with someone who is not there.

she told me she would have been happier if we had 50% of the money I earned, and to have spent quality time with me.

The lessons in life are tough.