He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

The joke conceals a warning about isolation. Somebody entirely taken with themselves does win every internal contest, and the prize is a life with nobody properly in it, since admiration turned inward leaves little attention for anyone who might have come close. No one competes for the position because the position is empty.

Self-regard is not the problem, the exclusivity is. Notice whether your good news, your plans and your stories are ever really about somebody else. If a week passes with no genuine interest in another person’s life, that is the drift worth catching early.