Having compassion for yourself is so important, and so hard to do. When my therapist first mentioned this concept to me, it felt so foreign. It hit me like a ton of bricks that even though my personal issues are far from my fault, and there's no possible way I could have been at fault (childhood abuse that I've struggled with my entire life), I was blaming myself for every aspect of my problems.
I'm still struggling, a lot, but realizing that I was my own worst critic was a huge step in starting to deal with my issues.
For me, I had been stuck in the struggle because I was in my head trying to strive for a place of perfection where my flaws would be fully healed/corrected and never again repeated.
thats an incredibly high standard and pressure to put on ourselves. You're right that we are our own harshest critic.
Have compassion for the human who can still fuck up but fuck up with knowing, because then at least you can see it and be aware of it.. and through time you can correct it.
Self compassion allows you to go through this journey without giving up.
I'm still struggling, a lot, but realizing that I was my own worst critic was a huge step in starting to deal with my issues.