No matter how you get there, we all end up the same way, just remember that.
I spent 14 years with an abusive (ex-)wife and I didn't achieve anything. Felt like my life was wasted. But you know what? It wasn't. It's all life-experience. It has shaped who and what I am today, and the person I am today I'm damn proud of. If you can call yourself a good, decent person, that's success to me.
Don't measure yourself against others (like everyone else says). Find your values, and if you excel in those values, who cares you didn't change the world? Or hold a patent? What is "Excelling at life" aside from making yourself and the people around you happy?
And AU