I do not find or consider myself disgusting or anything like that, but neither is "liking myself" any part of how I think. I know I can be likeable, but whether someone else might like me or not is for him or her to decide. So, maybe the goal is to simply be aware of our likeable traits so we can at least be able to believe we are not the reason so many people seem to have no interest in us or ever notice us.

Just yesterday I was saying to my wife the same kind of thing you have said about memories. I have many pleasurable memories of people, places and things in days past, but none of those can actually trump the realities of today.

Does any of that prove we are total failures? Nah, just that we no longer burn quite as brightly or whatever.