A Thought I Kept

How People Pleasing Stops Us Choosing Ourselves with Natalie Lue


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My guest this week Natalie Lue is known to many people for her groundbreaking work on people pleasing, boundaries, emotional baggage, and relationships through The Baggage Reclaim Sessions and her book The Joy of Saying No

We talk about the emotional roots of perfectionism and over-responsibility, the pressure to keep proving yourself, and the exhausting belief that you have to “earn” permission to change. We explore what happens when you realise you’ve over-identified with being useful, successful, capable, or needed and how frightening, freeing, and vulnerable it can feel to let some of that go.

There’s so much in here about anxiety, control, people pleasing, emotional patterns, self-worth, and learning to trust yourself even when you don’t fully know what comes next. We also talk about art, midlife, changing careers, the stories we inherit about work, and the difference between striving and actually feeling alive.

Natalie Lue is a writer, artist and podcaster best known for The Joy of Saying No and her long-running platform Baggage Reclaim, which has helped many people navigate relationships, boundaries, emotional unavailability, and people pleasing over the last two decades.

Website | The Joy of Saying No | Let Go | Baggage Reclaim Sessions

Also mentioned in this podcast:

Financial Recovery by Karen McCall

My episode with Gabrielle Treanor

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This is A Thought I Kept — Weekly conversations about the ideas that stay. Listen every Monday morning for a new thought to hold onto this week.

About Claire Fitzsimmons

Claire is the host of A Thought I Kept, a wellbeing writer and the co-founder of If Lost Start Here. As an ICF Associate Certified Coach and a certified Emotions Coach Practitioner, Claire helps people navigate the everyday lost moments of their lives and all the feelings, from anxiety to grief, overwhelm to disconnection. Find out about working with Claire here

Buy Claire's first book, If Lost Start Here: Wellbeing for the Anxious, Disconnected or Uncertain here.

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A Thought I KeptBy Claire Fitzsimmons