Most people don’t make choices based on reason. Instead, they make choices based primarily on emotion. They act to maximize present pleasure and avoid present suffering. The problem is that seeking to feel good right now will never yield the greatest feelings long-term.
Actions that feel good in the moment are likely to generate much worse feelings in the long-term, and what feels good long-term will almost always feel bad in the present. The truthfulness of this relationship is enshrined in aphorisms such as: “Sacrifice the present for the future,” “the hardest thing is usually the right thing,” and “hard choices, easy life; easy choices, hard life.”
The search for what feels good now is not the search for enduring joy, as what will maximize joy long term cannot be found through what feels best now. Instead, reason alone demonstrates the path to enduring joy, independent of what feels good now.