Chess,
Some things that help me when my self esteem gets in the pits:
*Positive affirmations- find a mirror, look yourself in the eye, and tell yourself outloud something positive about you. I felt stupid when I started doing this, but it really does work. I do it in the morning daily when I'm getting ready for work.
*Talk to someone you trust about how you are feeling. I have an alanon sponsor and some contacts from my meeting. When I tell them the crazy things that run through my head, I usually get a "Me too." They have a lot of experience at dealing with stuff, and they usually give me something that helps.
*Pray-again, I felt very weird praying at first. I didn't know how to pray. The steps taught me to ask for help to improve. That meant asking for help with my self esteem. So any time I feel bad about myself for no apparent reason, I tell God that I am crazy right now, and could he help me get back on track.
These things seemed silly to me. How could this work? All I know is it has and is. I've been told that we never get rid of our character defects and shortcomings. All we can do is to try to make improvements in those areas. Don't let it get you down. I complicate things all the time, but most of the time things are really pretty simple if we let them be. Hugs, Magic