Human life has consisted of a lot of maneuvering around, trying to get into a position where others will feed you energy. That has a lot to do with status. Increasing your status and lowering the status of others, so that you can be in a stronger position.
There isn't necessarily anything mean in that. It has simply been the accepted and agreed upon way of behaving here for a long time. Most people are not even aware of playing that game. It is so ingrained into our society, that everything you need, you need to get from somebody else. Our whole economical system is based on it for that matter.
The idea that the only energy available to you is what you can get out of others is not true. It is a lie. The universe has an abundance of energy. There is plenty to go around. There is an inexhaustible source of energy. And the faucet to that energy is within you. You don't need to ask anybody's permission, or be under anybody's control to have and use energy. Likewise, you don't need to steal somebody else's energy, you just need to open your own faucet.
The need to compete for energy is a very limiting factor. It slows down one's development and makes one's well-being dependent on the mercy of others, or dependent on tricks one uses to cheat others out of their energy.
If you can go beyond this need for competing you can proceed at your own speed without endless compromise and negotiation. This takes moving beyond scarcity-thinking into a continuous sense of abundance.
You can notice the competition for energy in many ordinary human interactions, such as in a conversation. The two parties will try to win over the other one. That might be by being very charming and attractive, or it might be by being arrogant and condescending, or it might be by being knowledgeable and experienced, that doesn't really matter. What matters is that one person will need the other person's admiration, trust, support, money, interest, or whatever. That has the effect of making one person stronger by getting an inflow of energy and the other person weaker by giving away the energy.
The good news is that it doesn't have to happen that way. You can deal with people in a way that is empowering to both you and them. It can be win-win rather than win-lose. One can do what one does just for its own beauty, without a need to control others with your actions or inactions.
Getting beyond the need to compete for energy has something to do with transforming one's particular control mechanisms. It has something to do with regaining the parts of oneself one has given away. It has something to do with having enough flexibility to always have a power of choice. It has something to do with remembering that it is you who is the creative agent in your own life. It has something to do with recognizing the basic goodness and unity in everything and everybody.