The search for meaning is popular; I think people are generally just looking for a sense of satisfaction and get too hung up on notions of "objective" meaning. This leads to all sorts of bullshit, such as "Effective Altruism" (which has plenty of problems beyond simply starting from an incorrect set of assumptions). Once you accept that what you're really after is a feeling, you can accept that whatever you're doing will necessarily not always feel meaningful, and that attaining self-understanding is of more importance in this quest than getting bogged down in philosophical musings.