Surely the answer is simply to make your own meaning as best you can. You will never run out of choices [many will disagree with this but it is true] unless you come under the power or tentacles of a dictator.

French existentialism

You assume too much, like saying "all of us" which is clearly a generalization used mostly by dimwits, do yourself a favor, stop being wordy and quit posting inane crap, much less several parts of them.

In my view, the answer to your question was included in your question .....

Humans are the only animal on earth that seems to need purpose or meaning. Coincidently, humans are the only animal on earth capable of creating purpose or meaning.

Hence, if you feel you lack purpose or meaning .... go make some!!

Does the discussion consider consciousness? So far, nobody has mentioned the word.

This is commonly held by those that give up religion but I disagree. The meaning of LIFE (write large to include all life) is to evolve. I believe we humans evolve through knowledge (real not imagined) and we gain knowledge through learning. Unfortunately, what some believe in learning (conspiracy theories for one) actually cause us to devolve.

I prefer to keep it simple.
My purpose is whatever I decide it's going to be, on any given day.
Some days, there is no need for any at all.
As another member, @jlynn, likes to say,
"do no harm".
I tend to apply that as I move through life.
I eschew outside influences as much as possible, and prefer to make up my own mind based on what I want.

In a simple sense life does not have a meaning nor does it require one, life is its own meaning and with or without us, it continues. I have heard people talk as though there is some definitive purpose or point of arrival when it will all be revealed. Meaningful actions may be found in the simple day to day things.

It may be fun chasing after some goal; something that you think will make you happy, if it does, then you are fortunate. Find something that you love to do and there will be no lack of meaning in your life.

Alana Watts said it all begins in kindergarten from where you graduate to 1st grade and slowly it begins to rev up. As you pass through high school and college the pace increases and then on to university for a degree followed by master’s degree, then you go out into the world and get a job working for some insurance company where you are given a quota to meet. You get to 45 – 50 and retire heaving a sigh of relief at having “arrived” and for a few brief moments you feel good and then you realize that you were cheated for you missed the show all along.

It is up to each of us to find our purpose and meaning in life. It would be nice if what we find is also what we like to do but many of us are not that lucky. We get sidetracked by nonsense.

Very good. Here for what it is worth, ( Not much.) is my view, which is a joke.

When we realize that there are no big, god given, purposes in life, demanding our obedience. And the many completely contradictory purposes, offered by the many different religions, prove that to be so. Then we can easily see, that wanting any big purpose at all, is merely a vanity and narcissism. The failings which are the trade of religion. For if you build up the vanities of people, then they will, obey you, pay you, and praise you, for as long as you keep flattering and confirming those vanities, over and over again.

Yet atheists often say in reply to the theist's question. “What is the purpose of life, if there is no god ?” That, by being none religious, we are free to choose our own purposes. Though admittedly they must by definition be small personal ones, meaning that in the deepest sense, atheism, agnosticism and deism are inevitably, by their nature, mainly philosophies of humility.

Yet here for fun is the irony. Suppose for one second, hypothetically, for arguments sake, that there is a creator, an intelligence behind the universe, though one who has not revealed any purpose to us yet, perhaps a deist creator at most. Then what can we discern, if anything, is most likely to be pleasing to it, if pleasing it has any value at all ? Well after the usual if doubtful, givens, such as, be kind, the only thing I think that seems likely, is that we should appreciate its creation as much as possible, down to the smallest detail. Valuing and treasuring all that we are given. And what are we doing when we create our own small purposes, whether, we climb mountains, garden, paint pictures, entertain our pets, make a coffee for a friend or help in a charity shop, if not appreciating that creation, or nature, down to the smallest detail, and valuing it enough to care for it, environmentalism. Perhaps therefore being an atheist could after all, be the most pleasing of all things to the hypothetical creator.

Now forget the hypothetical creator, since it has now done its job, and what are you left with ? That the small things are the biggest things there are, because they demand the greatest appreciation of you, and it is when you turn your back on the idea of great purpose that you come nearest to your greatest purpose. And when you forget god that you are most likely to please god. So you see that in the end, my deepest thoughts lead to an ironic joke. Nice joke perhaps ? Yes, but I was also never more serious.

And is this my original philosophy ? No, I don't think so, for at the very least the Greek philosopher Epicurus more than twenty centuries ago wrote. “Bring me a pot of cheese and I will feast.” And. “Don't over think it.”

Wise Wordy Walt