> I wonder if this had to do with the fact that in modern society, we often have to go through great mental loops to convince ourselves that our jobs are meaningful.
Most of our jobs are not meaningful. They'll carry no impact beyond our tenure, the company's existence, and so on. Most don't help society in any form or fashion, sans generating revenue.
One thing you can do is think about having a meaningful life instead of job. Your job doesn't have to be meaningful in order to have a meaningful life.
when i'm feeling down about the meaninglessness of my company/work, i try to find small wins wherever i can.
someday you'll be stuck untangling a giant muddy ball of legacy code to help a company solve a problem that you don't care about (or even arguably makes the world worse). but just re-scope your expectations and realize that "hey, i made life a little easier for some of your coworkers by fixing some annoying things
Most of our jobs are not meaningful. They'll carry no impact beyond our tenure, the company's existence, and so on. Most don't help society in any form or fashion, sans generating revenue.