Self-Expression Is Not a Ranking
Performance is often comparative. Who won? Who ranked highest? Who sold more, ran faster, scored better, or received more recognition? Those comparisons can be legitimate. Competition needs measures.
Self-expression asks a different question. How completely did I bring what was available for me to bring? That question does not require first place. A beginner can be fully engaged. A person can lose and still produce their best work. Someone with less talent can be more fully expressed than someone protecting a lead.
This does not make standards irrelevant. Skill matters. Practice matters. Results matter in domains where results are the point.
The distinction prevents comparative status from becoming the only measure of whether a person showed up fully. Ranking asks where we stand relative to others. Self-expression asks what was actually expressed through us. Sometimes the two line up. They do not have to.