I passed on a 55% higher salary

1) Is monetary compensation actually the most important thing to you? If the answer is yes, then optimize your career around that and always take the higher offer instead of beating yourself up over alternatives. If the answer is no, then recognize that you're going to be leaving money on the table and the balance of things that are important to you is going to outweigh money over the years.

2) I find that tech workers really often lack perspective on things like this. Talk to some friends in non-tech positions around the country and ask what they make (or go on Glassdoor and look). Chances are you make way more than they do for relatively less work, but are beating yourself up for not making even more. It's somewhat irrational if you take a step back and think about it.

3) To answer your question directly, no, there are other options. 1) ask for more money from your current employer while respectfully providing the business case for why you deserve more money. If they have the money to pay you there's a good chance they'll agree and you'll get more without having to jump ship. But recognize that many companies you might want to work for probably can't afford to pay you as much as well-funded company X trying to recruit you. Another option is to pursue additional income outside of your primary job as many people on this site do. A third option is to start your own business and take the risk of tying your compensation directly to the company's performance.

4) It's important to recognize that there is almost always a trade-off between money and doing things that are actually enjoyable. Park rangers and zoo keepers make shit for money, but generally love what they do. Finance guys making millions of dollars a year are often completely miserable. See point #1 above.

As an anecdote, I've turned down "more money" options several times over the years and it's almost always turned out to be a good decision because the other junk that would have come with the money would have been awful. Meanwhile, several friends who hopped on the money treadmill are so hopped up on antidepressants and therapy sessions it's a wonder they're functional.