I'm Natalie Liu, and you're listening to the baggage reclaim sessions, where we break the patterns

that break our hearts, relationships and bodies. Since 2005, I've run one of the longest

running self-help blogs in the world, baggage reclaim.com. I'm a boundaries and relationship coach

and the author of five books, including Mr. Unavailable and the

Foreback Girl and The Joy of Saying No. I help you reclaim yourself from emotional baggage

by letting go of emotional unavailability, people pleasing and unhealthy relationships so you can live

in love with more love, care, trust and respect.

Hello, hello, hello.

How are you doing?

In today's episode, I thought I'd give a bit of an update about how I'm doing and how I've experienced quite a shift over this last several weeks,

off of the back of really going through what's felt like the most difficult time in my life.

But it feels like I'm really turning a corner.

And I know I'm not alone in grappling with worry and anxiety around something that feels scary and

uncertain. It can be hard to know what to do with those feelings and how to navigate them and how to

keep it in check so that you can feel like you actually have a life.

And I hope that what I share in today's episode, if this is something that you've also

grappled with, that you find some healing and support in it too.

Okay, let's do this.

At the start of this year, I did what I always do within a day or two of a new year. I

acknowledged what age I was going to be. And I was like, oh, I'm going to be 48 this year. And then

I was going to clutch myself and I was like, Jesus, I'm two and a half years out from turning 50.

A bit of a shock.

...