Atheism and the meaning of life - what drives you?

[Spongebob]

Um....... no. For me it's more like whatever I want to be doing. There were plenty of thing's I did that I knew I should not (self destructive) but did them anyway. But that's a completely different psychological discussion.

Let me ask this, are those that are unsatisfied and struggling because they feel no sense of a meaning in their life have some underlying need to feel important, special?

It's important not to generalize because people can be in very specific circumstances and their mind has various ways of dealing with them.  But the mind absolutely does work to deceive you and you are generally not aware of it.  It takes a lot of self-examination to understand when this is happening to you and that is just not a normal thing for most people.  Therapy can help you understand this.  If you ask yourself, am I happy, do you believe that your assessment is truly genuine?  Highly likely it is not.

To answer your second question, yes that can certainly be at the core but it only begs another question, why is it so important for them to feel important or special?  Most people do want to feel that whatever they are engaged in has some purpose, whether its a job, a relationship, a hobby...etc.  And again, the mind can trick you into believing something is important when it really isn't.  But of course many people seem content in menial work through long periods of life and it begs the question, how do they do this?  How do people survive incarceration?  Lots of fuel for psychologists there.

I can tell you this, I have had periods in my life where I struggled with the value/meaning of my work life or direction in my life.  I spent about 2 or 3 years in deep self-examination and it was during this period when I received therapy.  At this point now I feel released from this previous desire and can find great value in some of the most mundane things and it feels extraordinary.  But I certainly can't explain it.  And yes, I'm aware that even now my mind is telling me I'm happy when I have no idea if I really am.