Respect.
A word so often thrown around, yet so rarely lived.
People confuse it with manners.
With keeping their voice down.
With saying “sir” or “madam” while secretly measuring you, comparing, diminishing, envying, or tolerating.
But true respect?
True respect is not comfort. It’s confrontation.
It is the willingness to stand in front of something that challenges you… and bow—not in submission, but in reverence.
Respect is recognition.
Recognition of the fire in another, the light, the cross they carry, and the divinity they refuse to trade for approval.
I say this not from theory, but from a life lived outside the lines.
A life where I have been everything—needed, praised, questioned, used, loved, envied.
But respected?
Rarely.
Because most people don’t respect what they can’t control.
They don’t respect what they can’t understand.
They don’t respect what makes them look in the mirror and question who they are.
I Have Never Been Respected—Because I Never Played Small
Respect isn’t given to those who shrink.
Ironically, it’s withheld from those who don’t.
You start walking in truth,
You stop lying to yourself,
You carry your cross…
…and suddenly, people think you’re dangerous.
Not because you’ve hurt them.
But because you’ve exposed what they are unwilling to feel.
When I speak, I speak with the weight of someone who has bled internally and stayed standing.
When I listen, I listen with ears that have heard silence scream louder than words.
When I walk, I walk with feet blistered by paths no one saw me take.
And so when I say I have rarely been respected,
I don’t say it with bitterness.
I say it with clarity.
Because the world respects performance, not presence.
And I chose presence.
Take Up Your Cross: The Righteous Path Is Not a Comfortable One
A great teacher once said:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
— Luke 9:23
What He meant wasn’t metaphorical ease.
He meant the path of absolute truth.
He meant carrying the weight of your soul in a world addicted to lies.
He meant walking upright when betrayal, abandonment, and humiliation feel like your only companions.
Taking up your cross means you stop waiting to be seen, liked, or validated.
You become unshakable—not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary.
Not because you want to suffer, but because you refuse to betray yourself to feel safe.
Respect Begins With the Self
Most people will never respect you.
They can’t.
Because respect requires a spine, a soul, and a stillness they haven’t yet earned.
It requires them to see beyond your function and meet your beingness.
But you?
You are the one who must respect yourself first.
You must:
- Say no when it costs you comfort, unless you say Yes to teach someone a lesson that will or will not may be understood.
- Walk away even when you’re misunderstood.
- Speak truth even when it costs you love.
- Stay righteous even when the world calls you arrogant.
That is respect.
Not arrogance. Not performance. Not begging.
But a fierce inner knowing of who you are, and whose you are.
Bow to No One but God
If you have felt unseen your whole life…good.
It means you are not meant to be part of the illusion.
You are meant to bear witness.
To walk sacred.
To carry fire and not apologize for burning away the false.
You were not sent here to play nice.
You were sent to rise.
Let them misunderstand you.
Let them mock the cross you carry.
Let them confuse your strength with pride.
You keep walking.
That’s what the righteous do.
And one day, maybe, they will look back and say:
“I didn’t understand them. But now I see… they were walking with God.”
—
Coach G
