I like this..like you , Lee, yet I can't really use the past tense, my self-image is extremely skewed. This has some to do with my mental disorder, but also conditioning from a dysfunctional family. Getting sober has not helped me to regain a decent self-image, rather it builds a new sense of self and purpose (from the ground up) because my old conceptions of myself were vastly different before sobriety.
"As we learn to be different," we are learning a whole new way to be but also a whole new way of looking at ourselves!

I fully agree that what we have within somehow makes it's way out...others will respond to it. If I have a very disturbed self-image I will interpret others through that lens...it is me changing..but by evolving others will respond to that and my whole perception can be based moreso on reality.