((((((((((((((((((((maymie))))))))))))))))))))))))

It sounds to me like you have some pretty toxic people in your life! They must be avoided at all costs. They are going to pull you down, make you hate yourself, make you unable to see your good qualities because THEY are unable to see the good in you! It's unfortunate that people can have such a negative effect on our lives, but they don't HAVE to. If you can find a way to put some distance between yourself and those people, to find more positive voices to listen to, you might find your self-esteem and your general outlook improving too. I say this from experience -- I have (had) a "friend" who could do NOTHING by criticise me for my mistakes, for the way I dressed, for the things I owned that weren't as expensive as hers... nothing was good enough for her, and that made me feel like nothing I did or said or wore or wanted was good enough for anyone. Then one day I realized how toxic she was, and although it can be difficult at first, putting some distance between myself and her was one of the best things I ever did for myself. It's probably a little harder to do with family, but it's worth a shot, even if it means only staying for hour-long visits instead of spending a whole afternoon with them (my counsellor calls these "tiny doses of torture instead of drowning in it" ). With my ex-friend, I decided to make a list of things I liked about myself, and whenever she started in on me I would just repeat that list of things to myself and try to tune her out as best I could. In the end, other people's opinions really don't matter that much at all, and if all someone can do is point out your flaws it's probably because they are too insecure to analyse their own.

There is also nothing wrong with being single at 24. If you haven't met the right person ... well, you haven't met the right person! Maybe you could get out more, join a group or a club to meet new people? Don't rush yourself, you're young, you've got plenty of time to find Mr. Right! Just work on getting your self-esteem up to the highest point you can manage, on surrounding yourself with people who care about you and like you for you, and staying on guard around the toxic people in your life.

Take care.