The School of Greatness - You've Been BLOCKING your BLESSINGS! Do THIS To Get Into ALIGNMENT & MANIFEST Like CRAZY! | Tabitha Brown
Episode Date: April 10, 2024Today we have an incredibly inspiring guest with us, the one and only Tabitha Brown. Tabitha is a social media sensation, actress, and vegan foodie who has captured the hearts of millions with her inf...ectious positivity and wisdom. But her journey to success was not without its challenges. From battling health issues to navigating the complexities of Hollywood, Tabitha has faced it all with grace and resilience. In this episode, she shares her story of finding freedom and abundance by aligning with her true self and deepening her spiritual connection.Buy her new book for yourself and a friend – I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free (A Feeding the Soul Book)In this episode you will learnthe importance of authenticity and how it can transform your life and career.strategies for deepening your spiritual connection and how it impacts your overall well-being.how to identify and overcome the challenges that prevent you from living in alignment with your true self.the keys to manifesting your dreams and attracting the life you desire.valuable insights into maintaining a successful relationship and the impact of personal growth on your partnerships.For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1600For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Eckhart Tolle – https://link.chtbl.com/1463-podRhonda Byrne – https://link.chtbl.com/1525-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod
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Welcome back to the School of Greatness, everyone. I'm your host, Lewis Howes, and today we have an
inspiring guest on. Her name is Tabitha Brown. She's an actress, a vegan foodie, and she's
captured the hearts of millions with her infectious positivity and wisdom. And today she talks a lot
about overcoming health issues and navigating the complexities of Hollywood, all the different
things that she's faced with grace and resilience. In this episode,
she shares her story of finding freedom and abundance and aligning with her true self
and deepening her spiritual connection. I really think you're going to love this one.
So let's go ahead and dive in. A goal, you can be like, I didn't make that goal or I did it,
but the dream won't let you rest. Even when you've manifested and it comes,
it still is persistent.
There's more to do until we are called home.
The dream is just, it lives inside of us.
Emmy award-winning actress, CEO of several major product
lines, social media star with millions of followers,
and a New York Times best-selling author.
Please welcome the amazing Tabitha Brown.
The very thing that I used to cover about myself
is the thing people love about me the most now.
Wow.
I believed what I was sold.
Somebody sold me a lie, and I bought it.
But now, honey, I returned it and got all my money back.
When you are pretending to be someone else,
God can't bless who you're not.
Ooh.
If I am pretending to be somebody else,
what are these blessings that I'm getting? Those aren't mine. That's something I created. Freedom and being true to who you're not. If I am pretending to be somebody else, what are these blessings that I'm getting?
Those aren't mine.
That's something I created.
Freedom and being true to who you are
is the best gift you can give to yourself.
I wasn't ready for everything I was gonna gain.
I also wasn't ready for everything I was gonna lose.
What did you lose?
Friendships, relationships.
When I started walking in my freedom,
they started to disappear.
But God revealed to me, He said,
everybody's not ready to walk in their freedom.
So being close to you while you're in yours is disturbing their spirit.
Oh.
What do you think is the true key to attracting and manifesting exactly what is meant for us in life?
I think.
Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness.
Very excited about our guest.
We have the inspiring Tavitha Brown in the house. So good to see you. Very good. Thank you for having me, honey. Welcome., to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Tabitha Brown in the house.
So good to see you.
Very good.
Thank you for having me.
Welcome to the show.
It's been amazing to watch your journey, specifically over the last five years, just kind of expand and explode in a positive, powerful way. about how when you fully stepped into who you authentically were, that's when everything
started to expand and you started to attract the right things for your life. You started to
magnify your audience and community. You started to expand financially, relationally,
with positive abundance. And I think it's really cool that this all happened for you. And I'm curious, your new book, it's called I Did a New Thing, 30 Days to Living Free. I'm curious, what was the thing right, for quite some time, about a year and seven months.
And I really thought in that dark season, because, you know, I was sick and doctors can tell me what
was wrong with me. They were doing, you know, running tests all the time and giving me guinea
pig medication is what I would call it because they can't diagnose you. But try this and see
if you feel better, right? You fall into this depression, which I did, because it's like, I know something's not
right with my body. I know I don't feel normal. And they can't tell me anything, right? And I
thought God had forgotten about me. And so I think when I got to that lowest point, I was like,
you know, I'm from North Carolina. I grew up in the church and I used to be this person and I still am who was excited to be a woman of faith. Right. And I was
like, here I am really thinking like I have all this faith, but I feel like God has left me.
Really? And so I was like, okay, Lord, this time, because what I also realized was I was habitually praying.
And that means I was just praying out of habit.
But I wasn't really meaning or believing what I was saying.
Can you give me an example?
You know how you grow up and it's like, just for example, like God is great, God is good.
Let us thank him for this food, right?
You taught that as a kid on how to pray for your food.
That's a habit that we pick up.
It wasn't an intention.
It wasn't intentional.
Feeling it.
Like even though I was praying, God, please help me to feel better.
God, please heal me.
Like I was just saying, because it's like, oh, this is what we do at church.
So I realized like, oh, wait, I need to unlearn how to habitually pray.
And I really need to seek him truly and let him have me.
Wow. Right. What's the difference between habitual prayer and seeking God and faith
and allowing him to be inside of you? The difference is habitually you're taught.
I was taught how to pray that way. I was taught how to be a person of faith. I was taught how to go to church,
how to worship. But when I said, God, I'm going to strip me clean, my prayer was, God, if you heal me,
you can have me. Wow. That meant I'm not going to do it my way anymore and how I was taught.
I'm going to do it the way you created me to do it that meant I'm gonna allow you to
deposit inside of me like only you can nobody else will get this credit or the glory for it right
and so that's what got me free I started taking layers off and when I prayed that prayer
I was in my bathroom I remember and my prayer my prayer was, God, if you heal me, you can have me.
Something changed that day.
I can't explain it.
I just felt different.
I wasn't healed in the moment.
But when I left the bathroom, I felt different.
And from that day, I've just been taking layers off ever since and allowing myself to be who God has called me to be.
Wow.
So, yeah.
Do you feel like you were sick physically and depressed emotionally or mentally
because you were out of alignment with who you were meant to be?
Absolutely.
I definitely think that plays a huge, huge role in it.
I think that I also have a gift, right?
So we all have gifts.
I was born with the gift of where I can dream things that come to pass.
I see things.
I can hear things.
And I remember a time when I tried to pray that away because it was scary, you know, growing up that way.
And, you know, people think you're crazy because you can dream something and tell them and then it happens or you see something and you tell them.
It wasn't a fun gift to have as a kid or as a young adult
right but I remember I went like a good felt like about six years where I prayed like God I don't
want this anymore and when I didn't have it as often it felt like I was missing a part of wow
right but what I realized is when I would have a dream and I'm supposed to
give a message to somebody, if I didn't, I would get sick. Wow. I would not like, I would get
nauseous. My head would spin. I would have to lay down. But the moment I got it out, I'd be
completely fine. So you had a lot of premonitory dreams or? Yeah, like just, it's crazy.
Like a vision or like a message?
Yeah, visions.
I can dream it while I'm asleep or sometime while I'm awake.
Like right now I'm looking at you and then something could appear right beside you.
I cannot control it.
It just happens.
Wow.
But like sometimes like a movie screen, like a little box, and I could see something play out.
Sometimes it's an actual, just a vision.
Just as clear as you sitting there, you can sit right here.
Wow.
And when you wouldn't speak it?
When I won't say.
Like there's times when God shows me something,
but it's not meant for me to say anything.
It's just for me.
To be aware of.
To be aware.
When you feel like you're supposed to say it and you don't.
Oh, I'm not well.
Interesting.
Yeah, so I feel like because I wasn't living my truth for so long, I had created this Tabitha
that I thought would win.
Like I was suffocating through me, so I couldn't breathe.
Wow.
And so the more and more layers I took off, the better I got.
Why did you feel like you needed to put a mask on for the either the industry you're in or the relationships
you're in or whatever it might be i mean i i know from a personal experience i wore a mask to feel
like i needed to fit in and feel safe for many years yeah uh growing up playing sports and school
and you know as a young adult i felt like i needed to protect myself with a mask but why did you wear
masks for many reasons one you know i'm from north carolina
right from the south i grew up learning how to code switch and conform watching my mama right
so we go to the bank and if she's talking to you know the white lady that work at the bank but her
voice is different i'm like oh wait is this how we talk interesting oh okay if my mama came to
school and talked to teachers and you know, all my teachers
were white and my town was only black and white. There was no in between. I ain't seen like
Hispanics or any of that stuff until I grew up and became an adult. She would change her voice.
So I learned very early, oh, this is how we have to talk to people who are not black.
I didn't know that that was code switching back then, but it was like, oh, to be treated a certain way, to be respected, to be seen.
That's what we have to do. And then growing up and working in corporate America, being told like in a call center, people hear my voice say, oh, are you black?
I don't want to speak to somebody black. No way. Oh, absolutely. Come on. Oh, absolutely, honey.
absolutely honey and so I would learn to mask it even more to to to push it down even more and then getting into entertainment hearing oh you you sound country you're gonna have to learn to to
cover that so it became like I'm doing it for you know just my normal school and in work I'm doing
for corporate America now I'm doing it for entertainment America. Now I'm doing it for entertainment. And then it came to like, oh, you can come to LA. I used to have, my hair was already natural, but they were like,
your skin complexion, straighter hair. Okay. Certain size, sound neutral. Used to be the
word I would always be given. No accent. Yeah. No accent. Be as neutral. No one should know where you're from.
And I believe that. And so I created that Tabitha to get jobs. Right.
The one thing that my mom and they named me Tabitha. So my first job at Winn-Dixie, I never forget.
I put in the application, dropped it off and I got a call and they were like, oh, we want to bring you in for an interview. I said, okay, great. So I get there and the assistant
manager, when I walked up, clearly thought I was white from my name and how I sounded on the phone,
right? So when she looked at me, I was like, I'm here for an interview. She's like, did somebody
call you for an interview? I was like, yes, ma'am. Said her name and it was her. She was like,
I'll be right back. Ended up getting a job because the actual store manager
had came, his name was David.
He was an older man who was great.
He was like, I'll interview him.
And so he loved me and I worked there for a while,
but my name always used to get me jobs, crazy enough,
because people thought I was white.
They want no black Tabitha's around.
It was like, it's a Bewitched name,
it was named from Bewitched. Wow.
That's where my mama named me from.
So it was conforming to survive.
My ancestors had to do it to survive, right?
And it was passed down, but we don't have to do that anymore.
I'm enough just as I am from Eden, North Carolina.
Honey, the very thing that I used to cover about myself,
it's the thing people love about me the most now.
Wow.
It's crazy.
But I didn't know.
I believed what I was sold.
Somebody sold me a lie and I bought it.
But now, honey, I returned it and got all my money back.
And that's with interest.
Yeah. Do you feel like it was more challenging you know in North Carolina
growing up trying to succeed or get opportunities or more challenging in Los Angeles Hollywood oh
definitely uh Los Angeles really oh yeah yeah in the south it's like you is the thing about the
south is especially North Carolina I love my my know, North Carolina is the best place in the world.
I mean, I love it.
But it was always very clear.
It wasn't hidden.
You know exactly who you're talking to.
Interesting.
Right?
Ain't no secret about it.
Right?
Whether they like you or not.
Yeah.
It's clear.
Yeah.
If I want you around or not,
like it's very clear.
Out here.
Out here.
It's Hollywood, honey.
They hide the truth.
You don't know that they don't really fool with you
until after the fact, right?
Or if you find it out in an email
or you see it in the trades
or whatever, you're like,
oh, wait a minute.
You acted like we was cool,
but we really won't.
You didn't really like me,
you know?
So it's more hidden here.
People be out here acting.
They be wearing masks out here.
Yeah.
They say they want to do a project,
but then they don't talk to you.
Right. And you know what? I don't even care about that.
Like, whatever's meant for me,
I wholeheartedly,
in this season of my life, I truly know what God has for me, it is
for me. And if it ain't,
it ain't. Absolutely. Yeah.
I was just saying this to my fiancée,
Martha, recently, actually.
I was like, you know, I was telling
you, she got excited. She did a great audition recently for something. And she was really
excited about the possibility. I go, you're going to get this if it's meant for you. And if it's in
alignment with your truth and your future, and if you don't get it, it wasn't meant for you.
It wasn't meant for you, huh? That's right.
You don't need to be upset about it. Or, you know, maybe you can have a little moment of like,
oh, okay. This idea of, I wish I could have got it, but you don't want to be upset about it or, you know, maybe you can have a little moment of like, oh, OK, this idea of I wish I could have got it.
But you don't want to go through years of stress on something that's not meant for you.
That's right. That's right. Listen, when the thing is meant for you, there is nothing that will stop it.
Like God is not even complicated. He's not. He's very clear. We complicate things.
We're in our head too much. Yeah, we're in our head too much. We're overthinking it. We'll get an opportunity. And before the opportunity is ours, we will play out every
single thing. Oh, if I do this and then I do this and we ain't even got it yet. Let's see if it
works out for us first and then we can expand on it. What do you think is the true key to
attracting and manifesting exactly what is meant for us in life. I think walking in your truth will do that, right?
Showing up exactly who you are allows the things that belong to you to come,
you know, because when we create a different person, as I did for myself, right?
When you are pretending to be someone else, God can't bless who you're not.
Ooh, he can only bless who you are.
So if I am pretending
to be somebody else, what are these blessings that I'm getting? Those aren't
mine. That's something I created. But when I just
be me, I can get everything he has for me. And the interesting thing, you
see people who are blessed for being someone they're not.
They're usually depressed, anxious, stressed, or it's never enough.
It's never good enough because they still aren't good enough.
They're not being who they're meant to be.
They're always chasing something else.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And that's almost a greater challenge.
It's like you're being blessed, but you don't feel enough.
Right.
You have everything, but you feel worthless.
Or empty. Empty. No don't feel enough. Right. You have everything, but you feel worthless. Or empty.
Empty.
No peace.
No peace.
Yeah.
I mean, that's the freedom and being true to who you are.
It's the best gift you can give to yourself.
How can someone know what their truth is when they've been wearing a mask for so long?
Oh, honey, we all, I feel like we know our truth, right?
Your truth is in your silence when no one else is around, right?
It's the things that you say to yourself.
It's the things that you do, like childhood memories before you were taught that you weren't enough and before you believed it, right?
That's your truth.
Sometimes we have to go back to our
childlike thoughts because as children, we're free. We're born knowing what we're supposed to do,
but we're taught how to have fear. We're taught no, we're taught yes, right? We're taught how to
speak, all the things, but we're also influenced by our parents, by our friends and peers and different things. Sometimes unintentionally,
it just naturally happens in your influence. But what your truth is, how you feel when you're alone,
the things that you used to enjoy doing as a kid that nobody had to tell you to do,
like that's your truth, right? Sometimes that's also your passion and purpose.
We have to go back to that before we were taught, oh, no, you can't have that dream.
Oh, no, you can't do that because, you know, they don't make money.
You should do this X, Y and Z.
You go back to what did you used to love to play when you were a kid?
Right.
Did you love to play office?
Did you love to play sports?
Did you love to play?
You know, did you take care of dolls and treat them like you were a doctor? Like, what was your thing that you did every day without hesitation
until somebody told you that that was just a game? Sometimes that's your purpose. That's the
thing that you were put here to do before somebody told you you couldn't. And so you go back to that
and then it's like, oh, that was my truth that I let somebody tell me was a lie. But that belongs to me. You know, those are your feelings. Those are your things that still
matter for you. But we have to tap back into it. Got to get back to that. And when you were in that
bathroom having that conversation with God, what was it again you said? If you heal me, you can
have me. If you heal me, you can have me. And that's powerful. And you said when you left that, something shifted inside of you.
Yeah.
I felt lighter.
Interesting.
I felt lighter and I just felt different.
You know, it's hard to explain that.
But every day from that day, it was just like something is happening.
something is happening.
I have this thing sometimes where I can walk outside
and the air will feel different on my skin.
And I know a shift is happening.
Like I know it's coming.
I'm like,
oh, something's about to happen.
It's a weird thing,
but I can feel it.
I remember I used to work this job.
I used to work in a nine to five in LA
and we had a warehouse
and then we had office space and so I would go because I was in charge of like shipping and
coordinating so I would go to warehouse sometime to take paperwork and then walk back to my office
and there was a very long hallway and this particular day I had felt the wind shift and so
when I had left the warehouse to come back down this long hallway, I, and I sometimes
still do this, but I remember this day I would close my eyes and I wouldn't even care about where
I was going. I would just walk with my eyes closed this long hallway because it was just, I could just
envision whatever the shift was like, God got something else for me that's coming.
And I remember a girl that was working, she was coming out of the bathroom.
So she was like standing in the hallway.
She was like, Tabitha, Tabitha.
She had her eyes closed, walking in.
And it started me.
She was like, you were just walking with your eyes closed.
I was like, oh girl, honey, sometime, honey,
I do that because I'm just seeing where he's taking me.
You know, it's a weird thing.
I can't even, I can't explain why I do some of the things I do.
Also, I feel like it's part of the gift.
Absolutely.
You know, but after I left the bathroom that day, it was about two or three weeks later, I had this dream.
And in the dream, I saw myself on a show, right?
But the screen was small.
And I've told this story many times.
And when I woke up, I was like, okay, Lord, reveal that to me.
Because during this time, I'm not really auditioning.
I'm not doing any acting.
I wouldn't do a stand-up.
I wouldn't do any of the things that would land me on the show.
Because I was not well.
And I had a conversation with God.
And he said, start doing videos.
And I was like, I'm not doing no videos.
Honey, I'm an actress,
a broke actress,
but an actress nonetheless.
I'm not doing that
social media thing.
I ain't doing that.
Why would I do that?
And also because,
you know, as an actor,
then we were always told
when I would go to action classes
or different things,
stay away from social media.
They won't take you serious
in Hollywood.
And I believed it.
Okay.
And so the voice was clear.
Start doing videos. And I was like, Lord, I don't want to do videos. And he believed it. Okay? And so the voice was clear. Start doing videos.
And I was like, Lord, I don't want to do videos.
And he was like, listen, when you were out doing stand-up, you were trying to get a TV show.
And them little, you know,
open mic nights, you were getting 15, 30 people to see
you a night. You start doing videos, you reach
thousands in minutes. And I was like,
that's where I got you because I ain't got thousands of followers
to reach in minutes. The voice again
start doing videos. So I was like, I don't want to do followers to reach in minutes. The voice again, start doing videos.
So I was like, I don't want to do that.
So then he reminded me.
He said, remember in the bathroom, he said, if I heal you, I can have you.
Oh, and I said, do you want to be healed or not?
I was like, oh, he caught me on a bad day that day.
But I did say that.
Did I really say that?
Did I really say that?
You know, I was having a bad day that day.
But that's the only reason I started doing videos.
Wow.
Right?
Because you heard the voice that said start doing videos.
Yeah.
And you didn't have a big audience then?
No.
I had my regular Facebook family put 3,000 to 5,000 people, whatever your thing is on Facebook.
I might have had like, I don't know, 1,300 followers or something on my Facebook actor page.
Small.
Oh, as small as you can get it. And probably the same on Instagram. I don't know, 1300 followers or something on my Facebook actor page. Small, small.
Oh, as small as you can get it in, you know, probably the same on Instagram.
And I was like, well, I ain't got thousands of followers to watch me.
Thousands of minutes.
What are you talking about?
And I was like, OK, but I also was trying to live a life of obedience.
So I was like, OK, I got to start doing these videos.
And I was like, Lord, what am I going to do a video about?
So when I first started doing the videos, I was telling jokes and telling stories of, you know, being a mama and a wife.
Same stuff I used to kind of tell on stage.
And during that time, those same few weeks, my daughter had came home and told me about the documentary to watch that she watched at school.
What the hell? Because she knew I was sick.
We watched it as a family and I decided to do a 30-day vegan challenge.
And after the 30 days, I was like, oh, I was feeling better. Ten days, the first ten days, I'd had a headache for a year and seven months
in the back of my head every day.
Wow.
Every day.
I would fall when I would walk.
I lost my vision for a day.
My body was just attacking itself.
First 10 days, my headache disappeared. After every drug, I was getting shots in my head.
I was getting everything they offered me. If anything, it was probably making me worse.
Nothing worked. 10 days of implants, headache disappeared. And so I told my husband, I was like,
I think this is going to be my life. I think I think I'm gonna go vegan and the moment I said that out of my mouth on that day 30 I was like I'm not gonna
go back I think I'm gonna be vegan the same boy said told me to start doing videos like a hummingbird
would fly by your ear that's how I can explain it it that's how it sounds it was like now tell
people what you're eating in your videos wow and I said oh lord i don't know if i want to do that because that
makes it kind of permanent like i'm from north carolina i'm not doing a challenge right i'm doing
for real this my life i'm gonna be vegan and i never wanted people to feel like i was trying to
shame anybody or anything and i was just like i don't know i had also shaved off all my hair at
the time because my hair was always long and straight. So I was just doing a whole new transformation.
And so I was like, okay, I just started telling people, yeah, I'm going vegan. And when I find
food items, I'm going to share it with y'all. I'm going to cook some recipes and share when I find
good vegan food. And that's how it started. And nobody was watching. I was like, it's 33 people on here, Lord.
I'm cooking live.
You said thousands of minutes.
Where are they?
I would cry because I'd be like, I don't know why God has me doing this.
I don't know what I'm doing.
And, you know, that was August of 2017.
And I think by October I started, I was feeling so much better.
I started driving Uber because I didn't go back to work.
I'd been on disability for over a year.
And so I told my husband, I was like, I don't want to go back to a nine to five.
I'm going to just see what God got out here for me.
I'm in L.A.
I'm going to drive Uber, probably pick up a producer or director.
They're going to love me.
I'll call you from set.
That's how I think.
I'm like, I'm about to get discovered in my car out here in L.A.
And December 30th of 2017, I dropped somebody off by Whole Foods, driving Uber that morning.
Went in there and got me a breakfast sandwich because I was still, you know, vegan.
New to being vegan, but Whole Foods always got a vegan option.
So I was like, oh, I'm going in and get me breakfast.
Had never heard of vegan bacon at that time.
They had a sandwich in the, you know, the prepared food section.
And it was called a TLTA.
And it was like tempeh, bacon, and lettuce, tomato, avocado.
I was like, oh, I ain't never heard of that.
Throw me a little pickle on there, honey, a little onion and stuff.
Ate the first half so fast, I was like, oh, wait, I need to do a video to tell people
I found a new vegan option.
Sat in my car because I was on my Uber break.
Did a video, posted it, went on back to driving Uber.
By the time I got home, that video had like 50,000 views.
I was like, who watching this video?
Next morning, over 100-something thousand.
I was like, I told my husband, I said, I think I'm going viral.
He was like, what that mean?
I was like, I don't know.
We were watching, though.
Exactly.
He was like, you going to make any money?
I was like, I have no idea.
Four days later, Whole Foods reached out, and they were like, we saw your video.
On Facebook, they DM'd me.
And they were like, we would love to work with you.
And I became a brand ambassador for plant-based living, did over 15 campaigns and the rest is history.
Yep.
Honey, ain't drove Uber since, but I will if I have to, but I haven't.
And my life has been on this journey ever since.
That's amazing.
So December 2017.
December 30 of 2017. And you started making videos a couple months prior. So December 2017. December 30 of 2017.
And you started making videos a couple months prior.
August.
Wow.
Yep.
Isn't it interesting?
What if after like a month of doing these videos, you just said, you know what?
This isn't working.
I'm not getting thousands of views right away.
So I'm going to stop.
Yeah.
What do you think your life would be if you stopped a day before you post that video?
Just said, I don't want to do this anymore.
It's not working right away. You know, God don't wanna do this anymore. It's not working right away.
God said it would happen right away.
It's not happening.
I'm gonna stop.
Where do you think your life would be?
I'd probably be working, still auditioning,
but I'd be working a nine to five.
Yeah, I'd still be pursuing the dream of acting.
And the thing about acting is, and I told you this before,
that used to be my my only focus right I had put myself in this box where all I thought about was like oh I want to
be a series regular or you know of course I would love to be a you know the lead in a film those
were my big break ideas and God was like you can do that you can do that Tabith, you can do that. You can do that, Tabitha. You can do that.
But let me show you what I can do.
Wow.
This is what he can do.
This is my fourth book, but my third New York Times bestseller.
I never ever even had an idea to write a book.
Wow.
Right?
I have seasonings.
I have a hair care line.
I have a major partnership with Target.
I have my own food, my own clothes, my own furniture,
right? I have all these things that I never imagined. And that's because God says it's
more than what you can imagine if you trust me. And so I do. Wow. This is inspiring.
It's inspiring. Yeah. If someone is feeling maybe not like in a complete depression or completely sick or completely out of it, but they just know there's something more for them.
Maybe their relationships aren't where they want them to be or maybe their career is just off a little bit.
Or they just feel like, I just don't feel like the fire inside of me is driving me to where I need to be.
You talk about 30 days to living free.
What's the first few steps someone can take in starting to live free to get that alignment back
inside of them? Yeah, it's so funny because this is why I started this challenge, right? This is
a challenge that I started in 2014 because I was trying to, because what you're describing is
feeling stuck, right? It's like, you know, there's something else, but you don't know what it is. We get in such a routine that we forget we
haven't done anything outside of our routine for so long. So I always say, start with doing
something new. It can be as simple as driving a different way to work or a different way to
a friend's house, whatever, or walking a a different way just so that your eyes can see
something it's never seen before something new that shifts the brain right um like even wearing
something you normally don't wear like for me i always tell people if you wear black all the time
throw some color on i gotta throw some color on soon yeah right like for me i don't like wearing
black but i found this and i was like you got a little color on it's cool. Like for me, I don't like wearing black, but I found this and I was like, you got a little color on it.
It's cool.
I'm doing a new thing.
Right.
And so it's little things,
even trying a new food,
you know,
going to a dinner or lunch by yourself.
You know how many people are afraid to eat alone?
I know.
Doing things that challenge you,
that will open up a new space inside of you.
That's what doing a new thing does for us.
And that's how we start to think, oh, okay.
And then going back to like, what is your dream?
Like, what's the thing that won't let you rest?
And I talked about this recently
because people sometimes they get confused
by a dream versus a goal.
Goals are things that we create.
Dreams are deposited inside of us.
Let's go.
We don't make them up.
They live there.
That's why we can't rest because they're constantly nagging us.
A goal, you can be like, I didn't make that goal.
Or I did it, Chet.
But the dream won't let you rest.
Even when you manifest it and it comes, it still is persistent.
There's more to do until we are getting you know called home
the dream is just it lives inside of us yes it's it's born inside of us so i always say do one
small thing every day towards your dream even if you're stuck in the nine to five job or in a
relationship that you know or or um business whatever the case is that makes you feel like oh I don't have time to do something towards me right which we are worthy of doing something
toward ourselves every day yes do one small thing whether it's reading
something that can help open up you know an idea in your mind to help you get
closer to your dream whether it's watching a movie or a TV show or
listening to a podcast that can help inspire or open up something in your mind.
Something small.
Every day.
One little thing.
There's a lot of people that want to achieve their dreams or be successful so quickly.
If they haven't made it by 27, it's like they're a failure.
I don't know who put that time frame on us.
Lord.
But you started to really gain traction in your late 30s, early 40s, right?
Yes.
What was the biggest lesson for you for, I guess, having success later in your 30s and early 40s versus in 20s?
What did you learn about yourself?
I learned that I was not ready when I thought I was.
I wouldn't have had nothing to show for it, right?
I needed to do, as my daddy would say, keep on living.
I needed to do more living before it came so that I could, A, know how to pray for it, right?
Because a lot of times I used to pray, pray, pray for all these things to happen. Oh,, I want my dreams to come true. And you know, I'm fast and I'm praying on it,
but I was never praying God when I get it, prepare me to keep it.
Let's go. This is the biggest challenge for a lot of people. I'm so glad you said this because
early on, I was probably 25, 26. I remember being broke, living on my sister's couch for a year and
a half, no money. Yeah. I had a mentor at the time that I was working for for free, learning from him. And I
was like, man, I'm really struggling. I could really use some money right now. And he said,
money comes to you when you're ready for it. I was like, I feel pretty ready. I feel ready for this.
But he's like, it'll come to you when you're ready for it. Otherwise, if you get it too early,
you'll probably lose it. And I think it's similar to like having a come to you when you're ready for it. Otherwise, if you get it too early, you'll probably lose it. Yeah.
And I think it's similar to like having a dream. Like if you're not prepared for success or prepared for the pressures that might come with it.
Yeah.
You might cause, you might sabotage it.
You might lose it.
You might squander it.
You might not be ready for all of the responsibility, the weight that potentially could come with it.
Right.
That's right.
So you don't feel like you would have been ready for it
in your 20s or early 30s, right?
No, absolutely not.
I wasn't ready for everything I was going to gain.
I also wasn't ready for everything I was going to lose.
What did you lose?
Friendships, relationships, right?
Things that, people that I thought
I would have in my life forever.
And when I started walking in my freedom,
they started to disappear.
Wow.
But God revealed to me,
he said,
everybody's not ready
to walk in their freedom.
So being close to you
while you're in yours
is disturbing their spirit.
Oh.
And I couldn't allow
that to affect me
in a way that I know
it would have affected me
in my 20s or early 30s.
Oh my gosh.
But in this 45,
I'm all right with it.
I love them,
but I understand.
Forty five feeling alive. Right.
Forty five feeling alive. Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. So, man, I can resonate with that because, you know, in my teens or my early 20s, there were certain relationships that I had formed that made me feel good and safe.
Right. Yep. And I remember losing relationships almost every few years. Yeah. And I would be really sad that I was losing these relationships that people want to call me back
or they didn't want to hang out anymore. Yeah. But I also know that I was in such a pursuit of
my mission and pursuing things that later I found out that some of my friends told me like it scared
them. Right. Because I was pursuing certain things and they weren't pursuing the things they wanted.
Yeah.
So I felt really hurt that they didn't want to hang out anymore.
But it also kind of set me free to have more time for mentors or people that were wiser or older than me who I can learn from and build relationships with them to give me counsel.
Yes.
And to kind of guide me forward.
That's right.
And that's one of the most challenging things, I think, is leaving the friend tribe.
Yeah.
When you want to bring people with you, but they may not be ready for your next level.
They can't all go.
Everybody can't go.
You know, I feel like a lot of times we feel bad because we, especially when you love people.
I love people.
Me too.
I'm a people lover.
You're a loyal person.
All these things, right?
And you always want to turn around and bring them back.
And God revealed one day to me, he said, listen, everyone who you need to bring along, you don't have to turn around to get them.
He said, because when you turn around, that's when you get distracted from it.
You got to keep your eye forward. The moment moment you do this you might have just crashed he said the people were supposed to
come all you got to do is go like this you never got to turn around they right there they right
there it's just like a hand off a baton you watch a a marathon they ain't never turning around to
reach for it they're just right here right so the ones who are supposed to come with you, you don't have to turn around and go get them. So you've been married for 20 plus years, right? Yep.
How has that worked with your relationship and marriage, you know, with you and your husband?
Have you, did you have struggle when you started to step into your authentic self? Because you
became a different person. Maybe you became the person you always were. Yeah. Was there ever challenges in
your marriage or relationship as you started to thrive or was there alignment right away and just
like everything was perfect? Oh, honey, listen, my husband was so happy. He was like, finally,
the world get to see who I know. Wow. Yeah. I mean, for years he hated the industry of Hollywood
because he saw how it changed me. He would always say, why you can't just be you?
He would, I mean, it would be all the time.
Why you can't just be Tab?
You know, the same Tab that talked to your daddy.
And I'm like, that ain't what they want.
I gotta be this Tab.
Those were the arguments and all the no's I would get and all the hard work I would
be studying and
going to class and he was like you're doing all of this and they still don't like you
so he hated the industry for a long time so when I became free and started walking in my freedom walk
he was like now the world gets to see who I love and I was like you was kind of right about it I
guess all along but no it actually has made our relationship better and stronger.
That's great.
Yeah.
I think Jim Carrey had a quote, I'm going to paraphrase it, where he said like his father
got fired from a career that he didn't love.
And then he wasn't his main thing he wanted to do.
He always wanted to be a comedian, but he never pursued the dream.
And he said something like, you can get fired at what you don't love, what
you're not good at, so you might as well go after what you do love.
Yes.
You know, it's kind of like you.
It's like people weren't choosing you for who you weren't, so you might as well be who
you want to be.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And get not chosen for who you are.
Exactly.
A hundred percent.
Something you brought up earlier about the walking in the hallway, closing your eyes.
It reminded me of the Helen Keller quote.
I'm paraphrasing where she said something like, a lot of people have sight but no vision.
And you were like able to close your eyes and visualize, you know, literally walking and not hitting the walls.
But also visualizing the dream that you had for yourself in those
moments. If you're able to have vision, a lot of us are seeing, but we don't have vision.
Right. What do you think is blocking us from having true vision? I think a lack of faith,
right? Because faith is, you know, believing things unseen, right? So I think that, you know, but what is the word is walk by faith, not by sight.
And so I have faith in the things I feel, the things that I believe I have faith that they're going to work.
Even if you haven't seen them yet. Even if I haven't seen them. Right.
I've never seen God's face, but I believe. Right.
but I believe, right? I've heard a voice. I believe. I have faith in the visions that he has shown me in my dreams or while I'm awake. I have faith in those things. I believe in
confirmation, right? I remember people used to ask me and still ask me often,
how did you keep going after all this time?
It took you over 20 years to get to success.
Like on the moments where you felt like giving up, like what were the things that kept you going?
And I always tell people, I would look at the signs of confirmation, right?
I remember I used to work in a staffing company in Greensboro, North Carolina, and I was on my lunch break, went through the drive-thru,
and a little guy, when I got to the drive-thru to pay, he was like,
hey, I was like, hey.
He was like, aren't you the lady on the show?
Aren't you on the, like, Nickelodeon or something like that?
I was like, oh, no, I work at Selective Staff off of High Point Road.
He was like, okay.
I was like, okay. He was like okay i was like okay he was like no
don't you have the show with the kids i was like i don't know what you're talking about honey i must
look like somebody and i remember thinking like huh why did he say that you know back then and
and god spoke to my spirit and said because he can see your destiny so little moments like that
would confirm and we're talking 2003, 2004
when that happened.
I just want an Emmy
for my children's show
that I didn't even dream of having
all 20 years later.
I never thought I was going
to have a children's show.
It was confirmation, right?
So if we pay attention
to the little signs.
I remember thinking, like, I used to work at a nursing home, assistant living home,
and we had to wear our uniforms.
It was like khaki pants and polo shirts.
And I worked the night shift.
And it was hard.
It was hard.
That shit was hard.
This was like 2010.
Wow.
And I remember I would take breaks and, you know, go to the bathroom and put water on my face.
Because overnight, you're working at 11 at night to 7 in the morning and I'm trying to stay awake.
And I would just stare at myself in the mirror and some days I would just cry.
I was like, I look at myself and for a flash I would see myself on a red carpet.
And I would be like, I'm clearly in khakis and a blue polo. But for a quick second, I could see, I could see myself.
I said, something is coming.
And it would just give me this boost.
I would just get excited.
I would get so excited.
And I know from being there, so many things happen, very supernatural things.
And I used to be like, oh, why?
Because I kept getting drawn to go work
in a nursing home. My mother
was a hospice worker. She was a
social worker. But as a kid, she always
taught me to respect our elders
and just understand
how much wisdom they hold, right?
And so I would read to them when I was a kid.
So after she passed away, I had this
urge to go work in a nursing home.
And specifically the night shift, which was crazy. Right.
So all these supernatural things would happen when I was there. And I feel like God had me there because one day I'll make a show about it.
Right. Also, because seniors and elderly people are the best people in the world. They are the funniest. They don't care. There's no more fear.
They don't care about what you think about them.
They've seen it all, done it all, right?
And so sometimes I think the flash that I saw of myself
on these like red carpets and like lights and stuff,
maybe it's because I'll do a show,
I'll create a show about my experience there
and then I'll win, you know, maybe some awards or something for it.
I don't know. But little things like that were always signs for me.
So I always tell people, look for your signs.
Sometimes you can be, I don't know, you know, talking to a friend that you have a certain relationship with, but you don't tell them your dreams.
But they may say to you one day just out of nowhere, you ever thought about doing such and such?
And it's the thing that lives inside of you.
That's your sign.
You never told them that.
How did they say that?
That's your sign.
Right.
That's confirmation.
That's how you keep going.
Look for your signs.
You have a quote that I saw that said,
obedience is better than sacrifice.
Yeah.
What does that mean?
Oh, honey, because obedience is the thing that it's hard to do.
Right.
It's hard to be obedient sometimes because sometimes we want to be in control.
You know, that feeling you get under you, that gut feeling, as we call it, I call that the gift under the tummy.
That's what I say gut stands for because we all got it.
That's obedience, obeying that.
Like when something is happening, you got to make a decision.
You got to be obedient.
Sometimes it's not the thing you want to sacrifice to do.
Sometimes it's the thing that you have to be obedient and do so that you can go
to the next place, because I think that we all have a certain amount of grace God gives us all.
But I feel like we can we can get out of a road that has a left and a right.
Sacrifices to the left, obedience is to the right.
He also gives us the grace to make a decision.
One turn might get us there quicker.
Blessings may feel better. The other turn may be a whole different, uncomfortable ride.
Really? Right. So obedience is better than sacrifice. Where was a time in your life where
you sacrificed as opposed to were obedient? And what happened for you? So many times. I mean,
about 20 years, I was living a lot of sacrifice. And what's, what's, how does it look different
for someone when they do something based on making a sacrifice and maybe they think they're
supposed to do this versus being obedient? I think sometimes we can say some people,
you know how you may want to start a business, right?
And so you may sell your house,
but something inside you feels like,
this is not right.
But you make the sacrifice and you do it anyway.
Business fails.
You ignore the obedience.
You ignore the thing that said,
don't do it that way. because you thought you were in control and that your way, your idea was better.
Right. And sometimes it's hard to decipher, like, is this my thinking or is this the gift?
Is this is this God speaking to me? Is this the thing that lives inside of me? Right.
Is God speaking to me? Is this the thing that lives inside of me? Right.
And so I always say, like, if you can come up with the idea and you can write it down and, you know, it's great.
You can kind of come back to it. But you can also kind of forget about it a little bit.
That's you thinking. But if he's giving it to you.
It's not going to let you rest. It's going to keep on nagging.
And also signs will come to confirm it. And i said before he ain't complicated it's a little bit easier sometimes sometimes there's roadblocks because now they're
roadblocks sometimes but if we read this sign on the roadblock it may not be a roadblock it may
just be okay there's a little bump here but read the sign you can still go this way it's just gonna
be a little bit harder reward Reward will be greater later.
But we just got to make sure we know which way we're going.
Wow.
And so I've done that many times.
But every time I went against that thing, I get burned every time.
Really?
Oh, every time.
Something doesn't work out.
It just doesn't.
I remember this happened recently.
I had an opportunity to go in business
with somebody to do a restaurant and absolutely love my business partner. His name is Neiman.
Love him. He has a restaurant in Chicago that I fell in love with. Killed my name. And so he was
like, I want to open one in LA. I was like, I'll be your business partner. I ain't never did
restaurant business. I did food, but I ain't never did restaurant business. Like I didn't know all this stuff. Right. But I was like, I know I can get people to come type of thing.
And so I invested and did it.
A lot of things happened with this building. A lot of things happened that we couldn't keep the business open.
Really? Right. And so while we were in the process of before we ever opened
I kept coming here I was like I don't know I got a feeling um maybe this is not the right location
and he kept saying oh no no I know it is and he had his reasons he had his his own reasons and so
I said okay we'll go with it and my prayer was, if it's not meant to be, don't let it last.
End it quick.
And baby, it ended quick.
It was grand opening, grand closing.
Wow.
That's how it felt.
Yeah.
But I had so much peace with it because I knew.
I was like, I went against the devil.
Yeah.
But he's still doing amazing and successful with his restaurant in Chicago.
That's right.
Yep.
And it's almost, you know, the greatest blessing had you went against your obedience, but it ended quickly. It didn't go on
for five years of misery. Right. Like at least it ended within a year or something. Oh yeah. And it
was okay. I only lost a little bit and it didn't work out. It didn't take all my time and energy
as opposed to years where some people are disobedient and they stay in a relationship for 20 years too long.
Oh, honey. Yeah. Or they stay in a business because they have pride.
Well, I started this and I want to make sure it doesn't fail.
Yeah. And they go against obedience and they suffer more.
Yeah. And then the hope is that when you come out of it, that you learned.
Yeah. Because I definitely learned to me. It was like God is saying, okay, now remember, I've already shown you this.
Yeah.
Don't do it again.
Don't do it again.
Or it might be more painful.
Or you know what is going to happen.
Exactly.
So, yeah.
It might be more painful.
Yeah.
How did you know you were prepared and ready for the pressure and the weight of the success
that came your way or the abundance that started coming your way, you know, five, six years
ago?
in your way, you know, five, six years ago?
I think because I didn't necessarily know I was necessarily ready,
but I felt normal, if it makes sense.
You know, my husband used to say, he talks about this sometimes,
but, you know, we've been together for 26 years this year. So he's been with me
since I've been pursuing acting
and all this stuff
and entertainment.
And when we first moved to L.A.,
it didn't matter
what I auditioned for.
This is it.
I would come home and be like,
this is going to be it, honey.
I know this is the road
that's going to take me here.
It could have been a short film.
It could have been a commercial.
Whatever it was,
it was always a thing.
Wow.
And I would come home just overly excited.
Like, oh, I can't wait.
We're going to win the film festival.
I would just be all over the place excited.
And that went on for years, right?
This stuff started happening in the last, we'll say the last, you know, five years.
But about three years ago, 2020, things really just went crazy.
Went off.
So much was happening.
I mean, campaigns, money, brand deals, products, everything.
And I was very calm, very grateful, always in a state of gratitude, but very calm.
So my husband came to me.
He said, hey, listen, I'm a little concerned.
I said, why?
What's going on?
He was like, so for years when you was doing the acting thing
and you were not making money, we were struggling,
you would be so excited, so, so, so excited about, oh, this is it,
this is it, and it wasn't it.
He said, now this is it, And you're not excited, excited the same way. And I said, oh, I said, oh, I get it now.
I said, because back then my flesh was excited and I was all over the place.
But my spirit was like, girl, no, no, no. You got to keep on going. This ain't it.
This this not it. I said, well well now my spirit and flesh we are in
alignment so this feels like home it feels normal to me yeah your nervous system is safer it's it's
safe it feels like oh I feel balanced I was out of balance before because I won't in alignment
I said so now I can be in a full state of gratitude. I cry a lot because I'm so happy, but I'm not all over the place.
I was like, so now I know this is what God had prepared me for.
So I feel at peace.
And so it gives me when we're at peace and we have a understanding that I'm doing what God has has planned for me and has purposed me to do.
I know I'm ready for it.
Wow.
Yeah.
Also don't have a problem saying no.
That's how you really know when you're ready.
Yeah.
And someone's trying to give you money and you're like,
no,
I'm all right.
God bless y'all.
I'm all right.
That's big.
That's a big move.
Yeah.
That's like,
yeah.
Obedience at a high level.
Yeah.
Cause I said no to a whole lot of things,
um,
in the beginning of this journey before money started coming in um and it was money good money and i was like that's not an alignment where god has taken me yeah i gotta say i gotta pass on it
and that's how i knew that i really was living and believing what god has for me is for me
that I really was living and believing what God has for me is for me.
Because I'm like, we need that money, but I don't, I'm not going to sacrifice.
I'm going to have to be obedient. Yeah, that's so good because, you know, we've been doing this show for 11 years.
We've never taken, I've never been drunk in my life or high.
I don't just tell them to do drugs or anything.
And we've had different, you know, gambling companies or alcohol companies always wanted to sponsor.
And I just said no to
all of it. And they've got big money. Yeah. Like, okay, that money could be nice and I could hire
more people and do these things. But if it's not in alignment with me, it just doesn't feel right.
Not saying that other people shouldn't take that. Right. That's somebody else's blessing. Exactly.
It's not for you. That's right. And I feel like I feel good, even though I haven't taken that type of money
or those opportunities. And I feel like it's growing in the way that I want it to grow. You
know, I don't need those things. I think that's really hard for people to say no. Yeah. When it's
out of alignment. Yeah. And so that's, that's, it's challenging to do. Yeah, it is when you,
you have to get to a place where you can do that. But I also understand desperation.
Yeah. Yeah. You might have to take stuff.
Sometimes. Yeah. I mean, back in the day, some of the movies and stuff I've done from way back, I'd be like, oh, Lord.
But I was like, I got paid $500 to do that or $5,000. And that $5,000 was the only money I made for six months.
Right. So I'm grateful for all of it though, because it's
my story. You know, I did scripts that were terrible and, you know, I thought were funny.
And now I'm like, Oh God, it was not funny. You know, just learning, but that's, that's my,
that's my story to tell, you know, and that's also can help inspire somebody else that is in
that season in their life. We%. We all go through different seasons.
What have you learned about the keys to having a healthy relationship
and successful marriage?
When you didn't have the success, the fame, the notoriety,
you know, for the first, I guess, 15 years,
to now having more of that, what have you learned as one person in a relationship,
you know, gets more famous and successful and financially well off? What, what have you learned
or what advice would you give others in relationships? For us, it's always been,
we all we got, right? Um, you know, the saying, don't believe the hype. I live by that.
you know, the saying, don't believe the hype. I live by that. Don't believe the hype. My husband,
we are our foundation. That's where it begins. It's God first and then us, right? Then the children and all the things. But together, we can do everything together. You know, my husband was,
we moved to LA and so that I could pursue my dreams.
For 15 years, he was a Los Angeles police officer.
He was like, I can go get this job and we can at least have one solid income that has benefits, you know, because we had kids and you could pursue your dream.
Wow.
And never have to get, you know, a career like a job job.
Although I always had a job, but I might have a job for a year or two and then quit or, you know, whatever.
So he sacrificed. Right. He did that. And I used to tell him five years, I'm going to blow up out here in L.A.
And I'm going to take you out of there. He'd be like, don't I don't care about that. I just want I'm fine.
Pursue your dream. Pursue your dream your dream right we did that together and so didn't happen in five
years but after 15 years I was like listen this don't even make sense for you to be working no
more please retire like from LAPD and do something that you want to do you know something else so
being together and never letting the noise in like people start believing the hype i am tabitha brown only
because i carried my husband's last name right so i am a a wife first like that's that's what it is
like me and my husband that's that's it Everything else is added on. That's all.
It's just work is work.
But we never let it.
I don't know how to explain it.
I think that people, sometimes they forget that marriage should be first.
You know?
And for me, it's family first.
It's going to always be that that my career is my bonus that
i get to live right that all the other things it's the bonus my dream god gave me i also feel
like my husband was part of my dream right that's part of who i am like this is who he chose for me
right right to do this life with. What's his
name? Chance. Chance. What's the thing you love about Chance the most? Honey, he makes me feel
safe, but Chance is not going to do nothing that Chance don't want to do. You'd be like,
hey, you want to go to? Nope, not doing that. Like it's, some days it gets on my nerves, but it's also admirable.
Like,
oh,
you're not easily influenced.
He's authentic.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Absolutely.
I guess at a marriage,
you got to have to do a certain things you don't want to do.
Oh yeah.
Let me tell you now,
it's many days though.
He get on my nerves with that.
I'd be like,
you know what?
I can't stand that about you.
And then other days like,
I love that about you.
You know?
Um,
but I think another thing is
he's a phenomenal father I've been able to witness my husband in all stages of his life right yeah
we grew up together we've known each other pretty much our whole life since we were 10
and so I've seen him as a boy I've seen him as a young man and now, you know, a man, man, you know, he's 45. And it's been
an honor to watch him evolve and grow and mature. But fatherhood has been one of the best things to
witness. That's beautiful. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Chance the man man um you know you talk about fears a lot
in the book i did a new thing what do you think was the biggest fear when you were
not fully obedient or fully living the most authentic life that that was meant for you
and what is the biggest fear now stepping into owning you 100 i is the biggest fear now? Stepping into owning you 100%.
I think the biggest fear before was, you know, dying with this thing inside of me.
Like never letting it be seen.
Right.
Right.
be seen right um fear now doesn't
necessarily live with me as much i don't know if i have um
unnecessarily like i don't i don't know if i have a fear I want to I want to change people right I want to I want to affect them in the best way possible right and sometimes trying to spread
love and positivity people don't want to buy into that sometimes.
Why is that?
I think misery loves company, you know,
and sometimes happiness scares people.
You know, you can have people that everything's going great
and they'll be like, I know something bad's going to happen.
Why?
We're allowed to go through it either way you know so I think sometimes I I
don't necessarily fear it but I am concerned am I doing enough with
spreading love and trying to reach people am I doing it the right way even
though I feel at peace about it I always you know I'm in prayer like God
is this really what you want me to do I want to make sure I'm I'm not ever being
triggered to get back into being in control because you know healing is a
journey and so sometimes we can be triggered to going back to our old
things and my old thing is being, I'm in control.
Instead of, no, no, I'm letting God be in control and I'm walking.
And I never want to go back.
I never want to go back.
How do you know when you're on the right path in surrender versus in control?
I think it's that feeling for me. versus in control? Hmm.
I think it's that feeling.
For me, it's the feeling off balance.
When you feel like you're trying to control things?
Yeah.
You feel more off balance. Yeah, and when nothing seems to be lining up,
oh, Tab, you're trying to do this.
Step back.
Step back and let's look at every piece of the puzzle
and make sure you're not trying to create the puzzle,
create the pieces, and put it all together.
Sit back and let God do what God does.
We still have to do our part because faith without work is dead, right?
But still you got to let him orchestrate.
Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
What do you feel like will be the thing that holds you back the most moving forward?
Besides, you know, being in trying to be in control or not be obedient.
Is there anything else?
You don't have the fears anymore.
What are you preparing for?
Like with the abundance coming your way, what are you preparing for to make sure you don't get in your own way
i think just staying true to who i am right i don't i don't fear um i don't fear or project negative.
I'm not
preparing for negative.
I'm expecting the unexpected.
Which I'm always
in my mind thinking of God saying
it's more than what I can imagine.
That's greatness. That's what I'm
looking forward to.
I don't look forward to
cloudy days, although
I know they will
come but they're not it's not something I'm like oh I'm I'm planning for a bad
day now I'm planning for all good days I'm I am being mindful and intentional
with joy right so I don't think and listen that may be the thing that holds me back
and if it does then we we'll cross that bridge when we get to it but i don't plan on allowing
anything to shift me outside of the position god has put me in. I think that. I trust God.
I believe that he has me on this journey and I'm all right with whatever come my way.
There you go. That's just kind of how I feel about it.
What do you think is the greatest lesson God has taught you?
I was always enough. I didn't need to try to do his job.
I didn't need to try to do his job.
Because the thing about when you conform and when you try to, you know, create another person, that's me saying, God, you didn't do a good enough job on me.
I had to fix me.
But he taught me.
He did a great job and I was enough just as he created me to be.
Wow.
It's inspiring.
You've done what, three books in the last four years?
Yeah.
Is that right? Three in the last four?
Yeah, in a little journal, like a workbook journal, but yeah.
I was keeping track.
I know. Four books in four years, yeah.
This one's called I Did a New Thing by Tabitha Brown.
You're the number one New York Times bestselling author,
multiple New York Times bestselling author.
This is all about the 30 days to living free.
You talk about how to really create new habits and a framework around setting yourself up for freedom, stepping into your truth, overcoming your fears.
I'm excited for people to get a copy of I Did a New Thing.
What else are you most excited about these days that you're working on and how we can support and serve you?
Yes.
I know we were talking about it. I'm excited to get back into doing more
acting and I love that you know sometimes and this is important for
somebody to hear somebody needs to be reminded of this sometimes we have a
dream right but our journey to get to it doesn't always look like how we envision
it and so God took me on this whole different path that has led me back to be able to do
the thing that I've been dreaming of since I was a kid.
And so more acting, I just finished a film, television, you know, doing things that really
matter to me, making people laugh, sometimes making them cry, right?
That's what we do as actors, making people feel.
That's what we do as actors, making people feel, that's it.
Creating more products that people can use in everyday life
because I think that's the most important.
And I know my fan base, I know my,
as I call them, my fam base, they my family.
And, you know, feeding people good food,
good recipes, but also feeding their soul with inspiration and staying true.
Right. And I'm expanding with my hair care line. I don't know if you know my hair. Her name is Donna.
I named my hair. She twisted up right now. And I normally have a big old afro and her name is Donna.
So I have Donna's recipe because I don't do desserts. But Donna, she can give you desserts for your hair.
So I have a sweet potato pie collection of hair products.
It's at Ulta Beauty, also at Target now.
Nice.
And we're expanding the line and doing more things with that.
So just trying to, you know, build an empire, but off of truth.
Just like you said, you'll never put your name on no alcohol
because that's not an alignment.
I'll never just throw my name on a product.
It's going to be something that you know,
oh wait, that's definitely Tab
because this is how she live her life.
So I just keep on doing things that matter
and that are real to me.
That's beautiful.
Yeah.
I am Tabitha Brown on all of our social media.
Your TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. to me that's beautiful yeah i am tabitha brown on all of her social media uh your tiktok instagram facebook you know youtube is blown up as well you got amazing recipes alexandra she's vegan
she told me yeah and she was talking about how she wants to try one of your latest recipes i think
it was like a carrot and bacon oh yeah that sounds incredible so i'm gonna have to have someone make
it up and that was like one of my first uh videos on tiktok that took me through the roof in 2020 so i gotta try that yeah someday
yeah um so people can get all your content on social media website is the same i'm tabitha
brown.com as well but make sure to get the new book i did a new thing i've got a couple final
questions for you tabithaa. The first one,
before I ask the final two questions, I want to acknowledge you, Tabitha, for the transformation you've made and for sharing your transformation so publicly and the success that you've received
by owning your truth. I think a lot of people wear masks in the world. I wore masks for many
years to protect myself, to fit in, to feel like I belonged, all these different things because I was afraid. And we can only create so much success with a mask
on, but I think we can create true fulfillment and greatness as our authentic selves. So I
acknowledge you for leaning into that, listening to the voice and being obedient to what you felt was right for you. And the impact you've
made by the continual actions you take and how you show up is just really inspiring. So I really
acknowledge you for listening to the voice and taking action to be of service to so many people
that watch and listen to you and read your books. So congrats on everything. Thank you for being.
Of course. This question is called the three truths. So congrats on everything. Thank you for being. Of course. This question
is called the three truths. So it's a hypothetical scenario. Imagine you get to live from this moment
for as many years as you want to live, but it's eventually your last day on this earth. Okay.
And in this hypothetical scenario, you get to create all of your dreams. They all come true.
You live the life you envision and you, you know, you have
unexpected things that come to your life as well that are beautiful, but it's the last day. And
for whatever reason on this last day, you have to take all of your work with you. So no one has
access to this book anymore, this interview and anything you create for whatever reason,
it's got to go with you. Okay. But you get to leave behind three lessons to the world.
And this is all we would have to remember you by.
I call it the three truths.
What would be those three truths for you?
Oh, live free.
Mm-hmm.
Spread love.
And eat well.
I like it.
Simple.
Yeah.
And powerful.
Final question, Tabitha.
What is your definition of greatness?
Definition of greatness is freedom.
Right?
Being completely free in your world
and in everybody else's.
I hope today's episode inspired you
on your journey towards greatness.
Make sure to check out the show notes
in the description for a rundown of today's show
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