How does our perception of ourselves change?

[Verum Occultum]

...It makes me kind of sad to think that this life I have lived will basically be wiped away after this incarnation is done, filed into the memory bank of my consciousness.

Consider that after your incarnation you will become more of yourself. In the same way that you wake up from a dream and remember your fuller identity which is your ego, so do you wake up, in a sense, when you depart from this physical existence. The dream-identity is generally very narrow, limited to a very strict focus. In your dream you do not usually remember what your existence is like in the waking state, but when you wake up, there is clarity and possibly joy. I believe that when you wake up, so to speak, in time/space, there will be increased bliss despite the circumstances in the dream. If the dream was lucid, then the waking up will be especially blissful, and the impression of it will not vanish into the wind but be cherished.