We have two selves: the experiencing self and the remembering self. The self that remembers decides what makes us happy, not the self that actually experiences things.
Book: Why We Remember
Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman conceptualizes the ideas of two selves.
The "experiencing self" is that part of us that lives in the present moment, and the "remembering self" reflects on our past experiences.
These two selves can interpret the same event very differently. For example, Kahneman's and other's research on colonoscopy patients showed that the remembering self is more influenced by peak moments and endings of experiences, rather than duration.
We can think of the remembering self as a storyteller. Our satisfaction and happiness are based on the story it tells instead of what we experience. In other words, stories in our memory, not reality, shape how we feel about our choices and outcomes.
This also reminds me of Aristotle making the distinctions between time and single moments.