Expectations: Who am I to deserve?

When we say “I” deserve something, who is the “I” that deserves? It seems as though coming from a place of deserving is to say, I am better than others, so I deserve this thing, situation, or person. In the end, I’m not quite sure that I am any better or worse than anyone on the planet. I know that I am different from all others, but that I’m not even sure of because I only know my internal reality. For me, saying “I” deserve is a very ego laden term. It makes sense to me that our ego is the part of us that says “I” deserve. Our ego is the part of us that helped us to survive and propagate. Deserving seems to be a powerful tool in the survival process.