Questions about objective worth risk privileging culturally familiar achievements, while purely subjective accounts risk counting any intense commitment as meaningful. Meaning can also be local and ordinary rather than grand or publicly celebrated. Assessing a life requires attention to relationships, constraints, and whether the person can recognize themselves in what they do.
Compare three fictional people restoring a garden: one cares deeply about the project, one feels entirely detached, and one cares just as deeply about damaging it. Engagement and worthwhile activity come apart across the cases. An adequate explanation states why each dimension matters. It should also recognize constraints and ordinary achievement, since meaningful involvement can arise through care, learning, and relationships without requiring fame, exceptional talent, or control over one’s working conditions.