I have this amended Tao Te Ching quote in my notes, probably from off of social media or something, that reads,

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”

I can confirm, everybody will NOT respect you.

They probably won’t even notice you at all.

Somebody might.

But everybody? No. Come on, now.

So not to diss the Tao, let me clarify.

Anybody who notices you are content with you, and do not care to compare or compete, will respect you.

At least the boundary around you.

They’ll realize they can’t mess with you.

Or maybe they’ll realize they don’t want to mess with you.

Or maybe they’ll challenge you, in that boundary-specific way, but.

It’s THAT sense of self.

The ultimate act of earning respect is to have self respect.

I struggle to remember this, for the record.

My wife tells me to knock this off all of the time.

I’ll start talking about how “Remember how I’m the same age as Beyonce, and Justin Timberlake, and Britney Spears, and - what have I even done with 44 years of life?”

And she’ll just say, “Stop.”

Because would I really want that? Did I really have the obsession (and gifts, talents, etc.) to get me there? And if I did, is that what I’d want.

I mean who knows really?

It’s not worth asking.

Because I’m not any of them and -

Self respect first.

That’s it. That’s the message. The Tao knows it.

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”

ps. Aretha and Otis both knew.