I understand. Your text is formatted using one or more styles whether or not you realize it. If you are going to use word effectively, it is vital that you learn to use styles. Otherwise, Word will work against you rather than for you.

Try, in a copy of your document, selecting your text and setting the tab stops you want for that text. Direct formatting like this makes future editing more difficult but can work.

I draw your attention to this part of one of the links I gave you:
Importance of Styles in Word and I quote myself:
"Trying to use Word without understanding and using styles is like pushing on a string. I resisted learning and using styles for years and now regret every day of those years because although that string was still very hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very important projects tied to it! Once you understand styles and the Word concept of organizing things into Chinese boxes everything falls into place and instead of pushing a string, you can push a button that turns on the very powerful text processing machine known as Microsoft Word and it will start doing your work for you instead of running around behind you trying to undo what you thought you just did.

"These statements should be even stronger for those using Word 2007-16 because styles are even easier to use in the ribbon versions of Word."