Sensemaking is at play here too. Resilient individuals will (consciously and subconsciously) adjust and retell their narrative in a positive way. This is done in order to mitigate the distress of making choices that were less-ideal, in hindsight, but were made with the best information they had at the time.
That doesn't make a difference here, because it cuts both ways. Someone who gave up on a lucrative career in order to pursue their dream job might retroactively rationalize their decision as the best one, but also, someone who gave up on their dream job in order to make more money might also retroactively rationalize their decision as the best one.
In the meantime, there's nothing inherently wrong about choosing to make less money in order to have a job that doesn't make you miserable. Or to put it a different way: there's nothing inherently virtuous about minimizing your happiness in order to maximize your wealth.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensemaking