Sentience and what it places on life's meaning.

I am new to discussing philosophy, but I have always been enamored by it. Today I thought about something while writing an essay and was hoping to be pointed in a general direction for more.
In the essay I was writing, I was asked to argue for more than one meaning of life, and although a commonly debated topic, I spent quite a bit thinking about it. The idea of life having meaning is self-imposed in a way, a creation of our own minds. Animals similar to us are born, grow up, reproduce, and die. Yet seemingly, humans and a very few select animals are aware that they are here, or at least that is what we think. We continue to strive for something that we have no confirmation exists and everyone takes a different route to get there. It appears that finding meaning in life is just a part of being aware that you are aware or sentient. If we weren't as aware as we are, would we still search for a meaning that others claim they have found?
Since I do not have much experience in philosophy, I figured I would come to a place where there is experience. I am sure that my words have been said far more eloquently before, and that is what I am looking for. I would be extraordinarily grateful if anyone knows any philosophers who discussed this as a possibility and what work I might find these ideas in.