I felt unloved and unloveable for most of my life. As trite as it sounds, it took learning and choosing to love myself and to trust that that was enough to finally feel loved. I found my husband not long after that, but as much as I love him and he loves me, my stronger and more resilient sense of self love is what changed my life the most.

Of course getting to that point took a lot of work. I had a lot of thought patterns to change and I had to practice some detachment from my feelings to get enough mental and emotional space to do that. That's why I think a lengthy course of CBT is important.