Respect your body before age teaches respect through negotiation.

Respect usually arrives on its own eventually, though the terms are worse. At some point the body starts setting conditions, and you spend your energy negotiating around what it will no longer do rather than deciding what you want to do. Offering respect earlier means you keep more of the say. Age is a fair negotiator, but it does not give discounts for late arrivals.

Ask what you are currently doing to your body that you would not do to someone you cared about. Change one of those things this week, before it becomes a term of negotiation. Early respect is mostly small and boring, which is why it works.