About
I'm Natalie Lue, artist, writer, and the founder of Baggage Reclaim, one of the longest-running self-help blogs in the world. Over two decades, I've helped people reclaim themselves from their emotional baggage by breaking the cycle of people pleasing and settling for less in unavailable and shady relationships. My art is an extension of that same work, exploring the big feelings and often hard but liberating truths that help us come home to and take care of ourselves.
The work
I make tufted wall hangings, embroidered pieces, and mixed media works on paper — textile art and painted works that explore the interior life, the big feelings, and the hard truths and outdated stories and judgments we all carry.
I've spent twenty-one years writing about emotional baggage, boundaries, and worthiness through Baggage Reclaim, my podcast The Baggage Reclaim Sessions, and six books including Mr Unavailable and the Fallback Girl, The Joy of Saying No (Harper Horizon) and Let Go.
Much of my work has connected with people who feel "not good enough" and avoid healthy boundaries via people pleasing, including perfectionism, overgiving, overthinking and over-responsibility, hiding out in unavailable and shady relationships, and ultimately settling for less than what they need, desire, and deserve.
My work has been read and listened to by millions of people in over 140 countries, and I've been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and the BBC, amongst many others.
The art and the writing are the same conversation: about coming home to yourself, telling the truth, and giving and receiving more love, care, trust, and respect.
In living out loud and talking about the things I thought made me unlovable, weird, and deeply anxious, I keep rediscovering that I'm so very far from being alone.
It's important for me to speak on the things we thought were in our imaginations or our fault because there are a hell of a lot of us living a lesser life because of the abandonment, emotional unavailability, and/or the pressure we felt to "be good" at all costs as children.
We need to be seen, heard, and known, and this only comes from creating healthier boundaries, which means being more of who we really are.
I've been a wayfinder who's helped many people reclaim themselves.
Also
We've gotta feel to heal. Our bodies want us to tell ourselves the truth so that we can be well, safe, and loved.