Larry, Polly makes a great point about comparing yourself to the greats of drumming. How can we ever be truly satisfied with our own playing when there's clearly stuff out there that we cannot hope to get close to. On one hand yes, I see that, but on the other hand, I cannot live my life like that, otherwise my time on this rock would be marked only by under achievement.
My mother is in her last few days of her life. I'm travelling 300 miles each day to be with her. Is she the best mother in the world? Too damn right she is! Do I remember times when she could have handled something in a better way? Of course I do. Are there times when she thought of herself for a change,. Oh yes. Does she think of herself as the best mother in the world? Of course not. The point is, I'm so proud of her and what she stands for, I regard her minor human failings as part of the package, but that will never diminish my view of her greatness as my mother.
Sorry for the heavy analogy, but your view of your own drumming runs parallel to me. When you've obviously been a part of something that sounded good, you got off on, others got off on, why is it so wrong to be proud of that? What brings about the necessity to find fault or areas for improvement to the detrement of the whole. Sure, seeking to improve is a great thing but why shouldn't the journey be marked by little triumphs along the way.
There is a middle ground Larry, it's accepting there's always room for improvement but also recognising how far you've travelled and enjoying the journey. That journey needs to be peppered with moments of rejoicing to balance the effort it takes to keep you moving forward. I have no problem accepting the praise of my peers so long as I have no problem in accepting criticism equally. So long as that praise or criticism is fair & balanced, that's cool with me.
I can never be the best, but I can be my best, and if someone recognises that & seeks to praise me for it, great. Also, consider the audience member who comes up to you at the end of a gig and says "that was the greatest", or whatever. Why question that? To them, in that moment in time, it was the greatest. It wasn't the version played by &^%*&^% in 1947, it was the version just played by Larry & his band. A moment in time Larry, isn't that what we all live for? Nothing wrong with running with it, it's running away with it that becomes a problem.