Doesn't love automatically mean you matter? To the person that loves you?

To me, mattering is changing people's lives for the better. You can do that through love. I'm only 29 but if I died today I know I will have mattered. To many many people.

This is encapsulated in my favourite quotes of all time, from the movie "Cloud Atlas".

"The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, which go on apportioning themselves throughout all time. Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime, and every kindness, we birth our future."

"For what? No matter what you do it will never amount to anything more than a single drop in a limitless ocean."

"What is an ocean, but a multitude of drops?"

"I understand now the boundaries between noise and sound are conventions. All boundaries are conventions, waiting to be transcended. One may transcend any convention as long as one can first conceive of doing so. Moments like this, I can feel your heart beating as clearly as I feel my own, and I know that separation is an illusion. My life extends far beyond the limitations of me."

I hope you can reconcile the desire for love with the desire to matter. In my view there is no need for conflict between these two urges. They are one.