Soma Rising

Send us Fan Mail When your life starts slipping sideways, it is easy to blame your mindset, your trauma, your hormones, your ADHD, or your willpower. I tell a story that changed how I see all of that: I fell, hit my head, told myself I was fine, and kept going until my behavior started telling the truth for me. What followed was months of dizziness, brain fog, avoidance, mood changes, impulsive spending, and a creeping belief that I was “broken” even though I’ve spent years studying healing a...

Show Notes

Send us Fan Mail

When your life starts slipping sideways, it is easy to blame your mindset, your trauma, your hormones, your ADHD, or your willpower. I tell a story that changed how I see all of that: I fell, hit my head, told myself I was fine, and kept going until my behavior started telling the truth for me. What followed was months of dizziness, brain fog, avoidance, mood changes, impulsive spending, and a creeping belief that I was “broken” even though I’ve spent years studying healing and self-coaching.

We get painfully specific about mild traumatic brain injury and post-concussion symptoms, including how executive dysfunction can hide in plain sight. I walk through the symptom list that can look like burnout, depression, anxiety, empty nest grief, or perimenopause and explain why the brain can’t always connect the dots after an impact. We also talk about the coaching and wellness trap of trying to “think your way” out of physiology, and why positive thinking supports healing but cannot override brain science.

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a single mom or caregiver who needs validation, and leave a review so more people can find these conversations.

This is Soma Rising: Conversations for a Conscious Future —where health, wealth, love, and purpose flow together on the Golden Path of alignment.  Learn more at somatribe.org

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Website: soma-massage.net

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✨ Learn more and sign up online.

Tabitha MacDonald is an Intuitive Coach and Bodyworker committed to helping people overcome pain fast so they can experience the love, success, freedom, and fulfillment they deserve.

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What is Soma Rising?

Soma Rising: Conversations for a Conscious Future


Welcome to Soma Rising, the podcast where science meets spirit and healing becomes the art of alignment.


Join Tabitha MacDonald, intuitive coach, bodyworker, and transformation expert, as we explore the path of the heart — the Golden Path — where health, wealth, love, and purpose flow together as one radiant field of creation.


Each episode invites you to release the ego’s grip and rise into the luminous potential of your soul — where love feels safe, intuition leads, freedom is your birthright, and peace is natural.


Through powerful conversations, personal stories, and Superconscious insights, we bridge the worlds of neuroscience, intuition, and energy healing to help you align your body, mind, and soul with your Higher Self.


Whether you’re healing from the past, awakening to your purpose, or learning to live intuitively, Soma Rising is your guide to embodied freedom and conscious evolution.


Because you are love.

You are the healer.

You are the miracle you’ve been waiting for.


The future is the Golden Path — and it begins within you.


💖 #SomaRising #GoldenPath #Healing #Consciousness #Intuition #SelfDiscovery #SoulAlignment #Podcast

SPEAKER_00: Before we get into
anything today, I want to ask

you something.

When's the last time you looked
in the mirror?

Not at your face, but at your
behavior, and thought,

something's off.

Not sad, not stressed, not going
through it, but actually off.

Most of us don't.

Because we're busy, because
we're coping, because we're

single moms or caregivers, or
people who learned a long time

ago to keep the wheels turning
no matter what's happening

underneath.

And sometimes.

Sometimes something is actually
wrong.

And nobody around you knows it.

And the terrifying part, neither
do you.

That's what this episode is
about.

It was April 2024.

I was helping my dad with my
stepmom's funeral.

There was a lot going on.

I had just signed up for my
dream coaching program that was

gonna help me launch my online
business and help me finally

like see my purpose in the real
world to bring it to light, to

bring it into the world, this
dream I had for a long time.

I'm at my stepmom's funeral in a
hotel.

I'm not at the funeral yet.

And my daughter's visiting from
Arizona, and I was so excited to

see her because she just brings
my heart so much love and joy.

And we go down to the gym and
I'm running on the treadmill.

And when I say running, I mean I
was walking.

And I started doing breath work
with my arms and pumping air

into my nose because I was
trying to multitask because I

didn't have enough time.

And I was like, oh, I'll do this
Tony Robbins priming exercise

while I'm walking on the
treadmill because that's smart.

That's me.

I was about 48, and you know, I
just didn't have a lot of free

time.

So I decided to multitask on the
treadmill.

Note to self, don't do that.

Uh un unsurprisingly, I flew off
that treadmill and landed on my

head.

My daughter had already gone
back to our hotel room to get

ready.

And the only witness to my
tragic accident was a young girl

who walked over in the kindest,
sweetest uh 20-year-old voice

and said, Oh, my mom does that
too.

Are you okay?

And I said, Oh, I'm absolutely
fine.

Had to get on with the day
because I had things to take

care of, other people to look
after.

Now I noticed that I started
getting a little bit dizzy and

disoriented through the day.

And I even said to my dad, I hit
my head and he didn't hear me.

To be fair, he was going through
it, right?

And he definitely did not hear
me.

What he said in reply to my
comment was, Did you pick the

things up from staples that we
need?

And I I put shame into that
moment.

I anchored it into that moment.

And what I anchored into my body
was nobody cares about what

happens to me.

Did I intentionally do this?

Absolutely not.

Was it a totally normal reaction
to having nobody notice that you

just landed on your head and it
might have severe consequences

for you?

Probably.

But here's what's even spicier,
my friends.

About a month later, I was
walking down my stairs, going to

an NLP training that I was very
excited about.

I was learning a lot.

I'm very nerdy if you know me.

I love being in a four-day
immersive where I just get to

like focus on something that I
enjoy learning.

It really helps me anchor things
in.

And I'm walking down the stairs.

I slipped on the bottom stair.

And guess where I landed?

Not on my butt, on my head.

Somehow I managed to skip the
whole rest of my skeleton and

landed smack, full force, all my
weight on the back of my

cranium.

Now, I know about concussions
because I do this for a living.

You see, I trained with a
concussion therapist uh before

COVID and worked heavily with
brain injuries because of my

long work with motor vehicle
accidents and sports massage and

things where people get head
injuries.

And there was a point before
COVID where I was going to focus

solely on really diving deep
into the impact massage therapy,

especially neuromuscular
therapy, and the benefit that it

can have on people who are
suffering with brain injuries,

mostly because of having that
person outside of you help walk

you through the symptoms that
you might be experiencing.

And then also the work that we
can do with the nervous system,

the brain, cranial, sacral,
things like that that help heal

the brain faster than one
traditional method alone.

So here I am, it's a month
later, and I'm thinking, I can't

get a head injury, I can't get a
concussion, I can't, I can't do

this.

And I'm like, just get in the
car and go to your go.

Just get in the car and go.

You're gonna be just fine.

And there's a deep panic running
inside of me at this moment as

I'm driving to this conference
because one, I know it's my

second head injury.

Two, I realize I had ignored the
first one and never did anything

about it.

And three, I'm I love my mind.

I love it.

Like I'm not one of those people
that doesn't like my mind.

I love my mind.

It is a magical place, and I'm
terrified of not having access

to it.

So I get to the training and I I
pull the trainer aside and I

said, I just landed on my head.

And I was wondering, do you know
if there's anything that NLP can

help with with concussions?

And he said, Yeah.

Just tell yourself you're not
gonna get a concussion, that you

have perfect mental health, that
your brain is in perfect health.

Just do that and you'll be fine.

So here I am, a trained massage
therapist.

Right?

I know the science behind
concussions.

I also love positive thinking as
a tool to help you heal faster.

But I want you to just sit with
this for a moment.

Because who knows what happens
to the brain under impact?

And why would you let someone
tell you that positive thinking

was going to override brain
science?

Because I wanted to believe it.

I wanted to believe that nothing
bad was about to happen to me.

And I wanted to believe, because
I'm a social seven, that thought

if I just stay in the end
result, I'll be fine.

If I just stay in the end result
of a healthy mind, I'll be fine.

You know what?

Turns out you can't ignore brain
science with positive thinking

and end results.

Write that one on a post-it, put
it on your fridge.

You're welcome.

So here's what happened next.

Nothing.

I mean everything happened, but
I didn't connect to any of it.

I kept working, I started making
really irrational choices.

Like spending$8,000 on a public
speaking course, I could not

afford going places that
challenged my nervous system in

a way that it wasn't ready to be
challenged.

And I was doing more harm than
good to myself, thinking I just

have to move forward.

Instead of giving myself time to
heal and giving myself time and

space to actually assess what
was happening in my life, I

stopped looking at my financials
completely.

Not because I'm irresponsible,
but because part of having a

concussion or a head injury is
avoidance.

I simply stopped looking and I
didn't even know it.

I didn't know I hadn't turned in
my text paperwork.

I didn't know I hadn't done a
profit and loss statement.

I didn't know.

I just couldn't figure out why
nothing was working.

I would cry at night because I
was alone and I thought I was

lonely.

Turns out it was the concussion.

I had no idea.

I started having this nasty
voice in my head, and I couldn't

even hear it because it was so
familiar.

It was old.

It wasn't my voice, it was
someone else's.

But it was so familiar, I didn't
even know it was separate.

So before we go on, I'm gonna
tell you what all of the

symptoms of a mild, mild mind
you, brain injury are.

Now, you don't have to have a
major bunk to the head to have a

mild brain injury.

Sometimes you might just have a
mild whiplash accident where, I

don't know, you were headbanging
too hard or you had a fender

bender, and your brain got
scrambled inside of its house.

That can cause some bruising.

And that can cause some
difficulties with executive

functioning, which I was blaming
on ADHD and dyslexia.

I wasn't blaming it on the head
injury.

In fact, almost all of my
symptoms could be explained by

emptiness syndrome, unprocessed
trauma, and all the other

emotional baggage I'd been
carrying around for 48 years.

So I'm gonna go through these
with you memory impairment,

alterations in attention,
disturbances in mood, headaches,

fatigue, lack of endurance,
difficulties with organization.

Hello, have you met me?

I can't organize a closet to
save my life.

I didn't even notice my messy
bedroom or the garage piling up

like the room of requirement
from Harry Potter.

I didn't even see these things
because my mind was not letting

me see the disorganization.

I had limitations in abstract
thinking, lack of initiation,

which I thought was laziness,
apathy is also what it's called,

lack of inhibition, meaning,
hmm, I'll just use my credit

card to pay for that.

No problem.

The coaching industry loves
people like me because all they

have to do is get my logical
brain offline so they can get in

there and ask me to spend money
I don't have because of hope,

purpose, or whatever other tool
that they're using in their

messaging.

And someone with a brain injury
is like, yeah, that's me,

because it's that easy to get
your logical brain off because

the two atmospheres aren't even
talking.

Slowed thinking or information
processing, dizziness, sensory

and perceptual disturbances,
probably how I had the second

fall, probably missed the step
because I couldn't see it.

Sexual inhibition or lack of
inhibition.

Hello, Mr.

Red Flag, you look attractive,
I'll say yes.

Sleep impairments, problems with
language production or

comprehension, visual
disturbances, blurred double

vision, my eyesight has now
needed new glasses, didn't put

it together.

Reduced concentration, I just
thought that was ADHD.

I had no idea that I wasn't
reading books anymore, that he

couldn't process information
when I was reading it.

Increased sensitivity to noise
or light, chronic pain,

numbness, or weakness.

Isn't that just what 48 feels
like?

Changes in mood, anxiety or
depression.

I didn't even know it was
depression because it snuck in

so quietly.

I thought it was just an empty
nest.

Having your daughter move out,
being alone, being single, and

not wanting to be single,
feeling like the world had

suddenly turned against me, but
I didn't know that it was my

mind keeping me in this prison
loop of this irritable pain.

And I didn't even know I was in
it.

Irritability, it's just me.

Like, who am I gonna be
irritable with?

Myself, apparently.

So those are the list of
symptoms that could have been

mistaken for so many other
things.

Now, because I didn't trust
doctors at the time, I didn't go

to one because I wasn't putting
the two things together.

Now you may be listening to this
and going, how could you not put

those together?

Because the parts of your brain
that organize information are

not speaking to one another.

And there are so many other
traumatic things that had

happened to me since 2020.

I had no ability to tell that it
was those two things.

I kept going back to the things
that happened to me in 2021, and

I could not register that it was
just this really recent accident

that was impairing my ability to
move forward.

It was almost like I was living
in Groundhog's Day, over and

over, repeating the same vicious
cycles and patterns.

And I thought, it's me.

I can't heal.

I can't change.

I'm broken.

Even though the mentor that I
had hired to help me through the

2021 to 2023 phase of my life
wrote a book called You're Not

Broken, I still believed I was
broken.

I believed something was
fundamentally wrong with me,

that I would never be able to
concentrate, commit, or see

something through to the end
result.

Instead of recognizing all of
the success that I had had, I

started seeing all of my
failures as if that was all I

could see.

It was like somebody took my
rose-colored glasses and

replaced them with doom and
gloom.

And it was awful because I
couldn't see it.

Nobody lived with me to tell me
about it.

And I hid it from my colleagues
at work, blaming it on bad

decisions because of COVID and
what happened with the business

and our downturn since then.

I wasn't even seeing it myself.

So why am I telling you this
story?

Because now that I'm starting to
heal and getting the right

treatment and the right care for
the brain injury, I'm finally

able to go and look back and
forgive myself, have a heck of a

lot of compassion, and also
realize that there's something

unique about being a single mom
in today's world, especially if

you don't have a close family.

And in my case, I wasn't talking
to my family at all.

And so I had nobody left that I
trusted who could come to me and

say, Hey, your behavior at
night, you know, where you're

like binge eating and crying
while you're watching true crime

documentaries, probably not
normal.

Or maybe it is.

I don't know, but it didn't feel
good when I woke up in the

morning and something always
felt off.

And it was usually when I was on
my way home, it was almost like

a flip in my brain would switch
on that was depressed, who felt

alone and isolated and terrified
of making any decisions because

I felt like every decision I
made was cursed and that I was

cursed.

In fact, that was the solution I
came up with was that God must

just hate me and I must just be
a cursed person.

I was probably a horrible person
in a past life, and now I'm

being punished for it.

That's a lot of what my mind
came up with.

I have about eight journals
because I'm not someone who's

afraid of self-discovery and
self-inquiry.

I've been studying self-coaching
since 2016, like my life

depended on it.

And I always wanted to have the
tools myself in case somebody

else wasn't available, that I
would be able to work through

anything when it came up instead
of shoving it down for later.

I am extremely passionate about
self-coaching.

I am extremely like extremely
passionate about self-inquiry

and being able to see past your
own barriers and shadows so that

you have the tools that you need
and that you can be very

self-sufficient.

Because, you know, I've met
people where they were like,

well, I couldn't get a hold of
my therapist and everything fell

apart.

I don't ever want that
experience.

I want to know that I have an
arsenal of tools at my

fingertips so that if I feel
like I'm falling apart, I can go

ahead and take care of it in
that moment instead of waiting

for someone.

And that is my way of being in
my own power and my

self-empowerment, is having
built that library of tools

because it has helped me through
some of the hardest times of my

life.

And when I sat down to write
this episode, it wasn't about

concussions, it was about the
power of self-reflection and

self-healing.

Because the truth is, at that
time in my life, I didn't trust

anyone.

If they said something to me,
because I was recovering from a

lot of narcissistic abuse, I
didn't trust them.

I would do the opposite.

The head injury, it made it
worse because I didn't trust a

soul to not manipulate me the
way that I had been manipulated

by narcissists for most of my
life.

And I'm gonna tell you right now
that it is a hard place to be.

If you've ever come out of a
narcissistic relationship, and

it doesn't have to be a romantic
one, it could be one from work,

it could be one from a religious
organization, it could be one

from, I don't know, the news,
social media, a friend group.

It's hard because that whole
system is designed to make you

question who you are.

And then when you're going
through healing, you're expected

to trust a stranger to not also
tell you who you are in a wrong

way.

I was like, no, this is between
me and my higher self, and I'm

pissed at her right now for
choosing this shit life when I

feel like, you know, she should
have asked for a little bit more

cushion.

So this was about me and myself,
healing the relationship that I

have with myself, trusting
myself and learning how to be

able to do that in a way that
wasn't going to take me down a

path that that wasn't right for
me.

And I had had a lot, I had been
in the coaching industry since

2020, like really actively
engaged with coaching programs.

And I had a lot of bad coaches.

I had a lot of great coaches,
but I had a lot of bad ones.

And because I had this new
narrative, which is, oh, you

can't, you shouldn't be
uncoachable.

I stopped trusting myself even
more, thinking that the advice

they were giving me was right
for me.

And not being able to
differentiate between intuition

and advice.

Because sometimes when you're
working with intuitive coaches,

they'll give you advice and not
let you know that that's not

intuition, that it's advice.

It's hard to know the difference
between the two.

That's why I always check it
when I'm working with my clients

that I'm not in advice mode and
I'm in intuition mode because

it's really important.

Because basically, intuition is
just information coming in from

your higher self about the best
path forward on your life.

That's all it is.

People think it's some weird
woo-woo thing.

It's not.

You know, it's your higher self
communicating with you about

solutions to wherever you're at
in life.

But because of my head injury, I
couldn't hear my higher self

anymore.

I had like this weird network of
false information coming through

that sounded like intuition, but
it wasn't.

And in uh one of the books that
I studied, he actually talks

about this phenomenon of the
false higher self that sounds

like your true higher self.

And how with people who have
complex PTSD or head injuries,

things like that, that make
things that are different,

unique circumstances, their
intuition might be hijacked by a

protector controller network
that sounds like the true higher

self and it's not.

I talk about this a lot in Soma
Tribe.

In fact, I created a ton of
processes that help us clear

away any of that programming so
that you only get clear

communication from your true,
most benevolent higher self as

you're looking at studying and
learning how to develop and use

your intuition.

And it's part of my favorite
thing that about what I have

added to Soma Tribe, probably as
a result of this head injury,

because you know, I am a seven,
which means anything I go

through, I'm probably gonna turn
it into a change process that's

gonna help other people one day.

That's just how I'm built.

So I'm not telling you this
story either because I want you

to feel sorry for me because I'm
fine.

Like I know I'll always find the
answer.

And I'm definitely in recovery.

I'm I'm so grateful for two
people.

One day I was at work and this
new client comes in.

She was referred to me by a
family that I've been caring for

for longer than I can remember.

And she was sent to me
specifically for a head injury

that she had had when she flew
off of a mountain bike.

I could relate.

And she was a nurse in an ER
department and a single mom.

And my heart literally opened
for her in so much compassion

because single moms who work
taking care of others, man, we

deserve a special place in
heaven.

That's all I have to say.

So as I'm sitting there going
through this list with her, it

was about eight months after the
first head injury, and I was

going through the protocols with
her, and I was talking to her

about the symptoms, and I looked
at her and I said, The tricky

thing about head injury is that
nobody is around to tell you

when you start avoiding things.

So I need you to be really aware
of these symptoms because you

might not notice them yourself.

And you remember that symptom
list I just went over a couple

minutes ago?

I'm going through that symptom
list with her.

And as I'm reading them off one
by one, I started realizing I

could check each and every one
of them.

And I had a moment of complete
aha and absolute tears.

Because I'd been struggling with
an undiagnosed head injury for

eight months, and there was
nobody around to tell me,

including myself.

Now, because I think single moms
get this like, you just have to

get shit done, right?

Like that's just how it is.

Your kids need you.

You just gotta keep going.

We're really good at hiding
stuff that's not going well.

We're really good at it.

We're really good at burying it
and moving forward.

And I think that this is
honestly one of the saddest

things with the high divorce
rates right now.

It makes us so susceptible to
predatory partners.

It makes us so susceptible to
financial problems, to lack of

success, to burnout, to disease,
because we're literally burning

the candle at all ends.

And some half-decent jerk with
a, you know, screwdriver comes

in and is like, hey, let me
change your garbage disposal.

And you're like, oh my God,
you're like speaking my love

language.

But, anyways, we'll talk about
that on another episode.

But seriously, it's real.

It is a problem.

And I think that that is an
epidemic that we don't talk

about enough.

So as I'm going through this
symptom list, and I'm saying

you're even more vulnerable
because you're a single mom.

Um, I'm realizing that I had
eight months of bad decisions,

self-blame, old trauma spirals,
anxious attachment, brutal

self-criticism, low self-worth,
foggy thinking, emotional chaos

I never saw.

And it took me sitting across
from someone else's injury to

figure out my own.

I had all the knowledge, all the
training, I had all the tools.

I was by every measure the
expert in the room.

I just didn't know I was also
the patient.

So I want you to just think
about this for a moment.

Because I'm telling you this
because I think a lot of people

are living in an explanation.

You have a story for everything
that's wrong.

And this story is probably
partially true.

The old trauma is real, the
anxious attachment is real, the

burnout is real.

Those things don't disappear
just because there's also

something physiologically
happening.

But sometimes the reason you
can't seem to heal the thing,

you keep trying to heal is
because you're trying to heal

the wrong thing.

And sometimes the most powerful
tool isn't a modality or a

practice or a healing program.

Sometimes the most powerful tool
is the right question to get

asked out loud, which is what my
client gave me that day, without

either of us knowing it.

So let's talk about what works
when you're falling apart and

nobody knows it, including you.

Watch your behavior.

Behavior is the highest form of
communication.

One of the hardest things when
healing a brain injury is the

avoidance.

I had no idea my finances were
in a mess because I never looked

at them.

Anytime someone brought up, hey,
let's do mind your money or

check your bank or look at your
profit and loss, I'd be like, oh

yeah, no problem.

And then I would go and do
completely the opposite thing,

not because there was something
wrong with me, but my brain was

protecting me from an area of it
that was damaged.

And it didn't want me to know
that because I have a lovely

brain.

And all of us do.

And it will protect the things
that we are not allowed to know

at any cost, including with
distraction and avoidance.

I hate it when people talk about
avoidance and distraction, like

there's some kind of huge
character flaw.

When usually there's some kind
of physiological or like

chemical reason why you're doing
it.

And perhaps it's because you
have a really intense protector

controller network that's just
trying to keep you safe from

knowing the truth that you're
not ready to see.

And it's really hard to get
around that, which is why

coaches, healers, therapists,
friends, it's good to have

someone that you trust that can
reflect to you the things that

you can't see.

Now, I will say I have been
using Claude AI to help me with

this.

One of my clients gave me this
brilliant way of putting in some

information so Claude can be a
reflector.

I will also say, AI can only get
you so far and show you some of

the blind spots.

Sometimes you do need another
human.

In fact, when I hit my head the
third time, yes, the third time,

whacked my face right into a
chair.

I ran immediately into Daniel's
office and I started crying.

And I said, Don't let me lose
myself again.

I just got myself back.

And it felt so good to have
somebody that I could finally

say that to.

And thank God Daniel was
studying cranial sacral therapy.

And he started doing cranial
sacral therapy on me.

And that had a massive shift on
my brain recovery.

And once I knew that it was
impacting my personality, my

decision making, the way that I
was able to process information

and what it was making me avoid
and why, I started working with

nervous system tools that help
regulate.

I started taking the right
vitamins.

I've been trying to do the right
diet, but unfortunately, the

brain chemistry piece would
create a little too much stress

for me.

So I'm writing a system out
right now to figure out how to

integrate diet and exercise and
get that chemistry right.

And I'm also, you know, finally
making my life more simple.

I finally decided that it was
okay that I wasn't healed yet.

I finally decided that it was
okay to slow down, to simplify,

and to say, enough.

I'm going to make my life so
small for a moment that I can

make sure that my brain is
healed before I move on by

creating something bigger and
I'm going to make sure that the

systems I have in place are
safe, even from my own

dysregulated state.

If you're going through this, if
you're going through a period of

time in your life when you don't
feel like yourself, please don't

ignore it.

You want to pay attention.

And I'm saying that from a
personal experience.

I have worked with people who've
been through massive body

traumas for over 12 years now.

And this is one of the
conversations I'll always start

with because when I get my car
accident clients in and they've

had like three car accidents in
a year, and I'm like, okay, so

what are your expectations for
healing?

And they're like, like me, like
this optimist, I'll just think

my way into it.

And I'm like, mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I'm here to hold space for
what's real and what's possible.

And the truth is in the middle.

Because the truth is nobody
wants to believe that it's in

the middle.

But sometimes the middle is
messy and it's complicated, and

we don't know what's going to
happen until we're in it.

And I think midlife, which is
where I'm at right now, is a lot

like that because you're kind of
like grieving the part of your

life that you're moving out of,
uncertain about the life you're

moving into.

And it's the messiest part of
reality of our human experience.

And I think things like
menopause and perimenopause and

thyroid disorders and all of
these things happen in the

middle of life because we refuse
to let go of the baggage from

the first half of our life,
which is where I find

superconscious recode to be the
most helpful tool.

And we're so terrified of the
future because we're afraid of

getting old.

We're afraid of being in pain
all of the time.

We're afraid that we're losing
ourselves, our identity.

And the truth is, we are.

Leaving motherhood and stepping
into a new era of life has been

one of the most challenging
experiences of my life.

And now I'm always gonna be a
mom.

But I grazed strong, independent
children who don't want

mothering as adults.

And it's hard because you lose
your identity.

You're like, oh, I don't know
who I am.

I don't know what makes me feel
passionate.

I don't know what makes me
excited about life.

If it's not to make enough money
to pay for her dance shoes or

her$100 red lipstick that I
don't know why I'm being forced

to buy, or if it's not looking
on YouTube trying to figure out

how to do the perfect dance bun
and, you know, all those things,

you don't, you lose who you are
because you spent two decades

being somebody else to someone
else.

And going through that with a
head injury, not to mention just

being single and you know,
trying to navigate dating in in

midlife now, where dating in the
wild is kind of unheard of, and

you know, you're dealing with
apps and bots and things we

didn't have to deal with when it
was in the 90s, like, you know,

it's hard.

So I guess I'm just saying this
because if you're in it right

now, if you're in the messy
middle and you're struggling,

like I'm gonna invite you to
Soma Tribe because it's it is

the thing that I created for
people who don't know where to

start on their journey.

And it's also for people who
aren't ready to really heal with

someone else.

Maybe you're not ready for that
kind of vulnerability.

Maybe you're an eight or three
on the Enneagram or a seven, and

you're like, I'm not gonna share
my story with anyone yet.

That's okay.

Like, I remember thinking like,
I'm not ready to share my

stories with someone else and to
have them unpack them and look

at them in a way that I'm gonna
like, I'm not ready.

And, you know, Claude, he'll
always say, It's time to get a

therapist, Tabitha.

You know I'm not human, right?

And I'm like, well, obviously
I've been in this rodeo for a

long time, Claude, but you're
helping me understand a lot of

the things that I couldn't see
before.

So I will find a therapist.

Thank you.

I have the number for one.

And um, it's not like I did the
whole thing alone.

I had great coaches, right?

Who gave me reflections and gave
me help.

And I had a lot of great healers
enter my life.

And I know that I'm just gonna
tell you, it's hard in the

middle.

Whatever stage of healing you're
at, in the middle is the

hardest.

It's the most frustrating.

It's where we feel the most
depleted, it's where we question

our darkest shadows.

You know, if you look at Joseph
Campbell's arc of um, if you

look at Joseph Campbell's arc of
the hero's journey, there's that

middle section of the journey,
which most of us turn back to

the beginning and start over
because we're so scared of it.

And I think when I created So
Much Ribe, I didn't always know

what I was creating, but I'll
say I think it was for the

middle, for the messy middle, to
help people get through to the

other side.

I always say I'm like the person
who's standing on the like on

the raft in the in the hellfire
hollow, and I'm like, hey, come

on, I'll walk you through.

I'll walk you through your gate
of hell, your um what is the the

other word that they use for it?

The shadow lands, the um a pit
of despair.

I remember in uh that one movie,
Atreyu on the horse and that

sinking marsh.

Okay, now I'm now my ADHD is
taking over, and I have a

meeting to get to.

But I'll talk about this more
because I think it's important

that we have voices in the
middle, people who can help

guide you through the messiest
parts of life, um, who can hold

space for worst and best case
scenario at the same time and

just give you room to know that
that both are true at the same

time.

Because that's life.

If you know a single mom or you
know someone who's had a brain

injury, even a mild one, send
them this episode because

sometimes validation is all we
need.

And I do have some programs I'm
developing to work with mild

traumatic brain injuries, um,
just to support the healing in

the brain and the emotional, the
emotional um aspect of it.

So um I'll put the links to
those things down below, but I

do have to run.

So I hope you're having a
beautiful day and take care out

there, okay?