Right usage? "not so much... as..."

Hello, everyone.

First, i would like you to correct the sentence below, if any.

(1)I think it valuable for me not so much to put off my death as to die happily.

Second,

when this is paraphrased into another sentence

(this is what I really want to say),

(2)It is more important for me to die a happy death than to put off my death.

Do (1)and (2) have the similar sense?

If not, please teach me how to rewrite (1) into closer meaning in(2).