Berkeley's Greater Good Science center does fantastic research on this topic. They have a MOOC too. This article is a great summary that may help you: https:

Berkeley's Greater Good Science center does fantastic research on this topic. They have a MOOC too. This article is a great summary that may help you: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_helping_others_help_you_find_meaning_in_life https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_helping_ot... These parts specifically may provide key insight: "Often, psychologists have distinguished between two types of well-being: hedonic well-being (a sense of happiness) and eudaimonic well-being (a sense of meaning and purpose). Although happiness and meaning overlap significantly, researchers suspected that helping others is especially crucial to developing a sense of meaning." "A recent article published in The Journal of Positive Psychology by Daryl Van Tongeren and his colleagues sought to examine this relationship. In a preliminary study, the researchers asked over 400 participants to report on how frequently they engage in different altruistic behaviors (such as volunteering) and how meaningful their life feels. Participants who were more altruistic reported a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives."