When I started recovery I hated myself more than anyone else. Someone said, "if you want self-esteem you must take 'esteemable' actions" and this turned out to be true; just asking a newcomer how they were feeling helped a lot. Anything to get out of my own head. Then I read that people are happiest when doing service and I came to realize that as well. Helping people showed me I'm just an average human being, no better or worse than anyone else.