Encouragement is important, it gets us over those difficult humps on our life path.
What you put out in life comes back to you, so if you want encouragement in life then encourage others.
Just because you encourage people on their path doesn’t mean your path is less important.
Everyone’s path is different. Be confident in your path so you can encourage others on their path even if it is a different path than you would choose.
To authentically encourage, find those things in another person’s path that you admire and focus on those.
You will find that you have much to learn from other paths that are different from your own.