“My marriage was falling apart, and I keenly felt the loss of family and the fracturing of a dream. This was not what I wanted.” Knowing she needed help, Hawn saw a psychiatrist. After listening to her talk about how swamped and overwhelmed she felt, the psychiatrist said something which helped her change the way Hawn thought about herself.
He said: “Who told you that you were some kind of goddess who could do everything? Is that who you think you are?” Because his words were given in the right tone and with the right spirit, she immediately recognized the wisdom and realized: “I had developed an inflated view of myself, believing that I could – and should – do it all. It came as such a relief to be given permission not to be perfect, to admit that I was human and flawed.”
She learned to say “no” to the requests made of her and began making clearer, better choices about how she would spend her time. “I came to realize that the world wouldn’t fall apart if I removed myself from it.”