Have you ever been in a season of life where you felt trapped in a relentless lifestyle?
Years ago, Mark and I wrote a book called Living with Less so Your Family Has More. One of the key concepts woven throughout that book was the idea of choosing to live with less stress, less money, and less activities than what is the cultural norm. When I read Brenda Yoder’s new book, Uncomplicated, I felt like I had a friend with a similar passion for that message, so I asked her to join me here on the podcast.
Brenda is a counselor, speaker, author, and educator from Shipshewana, Indiana. She is the author of Fledge: Launching Your Kids Without Losing Your Mind and Uncomplicated: Simple Secrets for a Compelling Life.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- Lessons Brenda has gained from observing the slower-paced Amish culture
- How living an uncomplicated life starts on the inside, not with your calendar
- Why too much information can decrease our self-confidence
- And more!
I know you’ll enjoy this conversation with my friend Brenda!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- [BOOK] Fledge: Launching Your Kids Without Losing Your Mind
- [BOOK] Uncomplicated: Simple Secrets for a Compelling Life
- Episode 57: Fledge: Launching Your Kids Without Losing Your Mind
- Connect with Brenda on her website, Facebook, or Instagram
- As a thank you for listening, get your 3 free eBooks.
My Key Takeaways:
1) To live an uncomplicated life, we must do the work to know our own deep beliefs and values. What we believe affects what we think, which affects how we act. Our lives become uncomplicated when our actions line up with our core beliefs. In contrast, when we don’t live out our priorities, every degree we go away from that original intent will cause us to drift away from where we started. Getting back to the basics and recognizing what truly matters to us will prevent us from ending up where our inside doesn’t match our outside.
2) Certain key character traits reflect an uncomplicated life. Brenda’s experiences living closely connected to the Amish and Mennonite cultures around her have shown her many examples of these characteristics, and those stories are woven throughout her book. Qualities such as resourcefulness, foresight, and contentment grow our ability to live simply. Using creative problem-solving helps not only solve immediate problems, but also the bigger problems that live beyond them. Foresight blends insight and hindsight to anticipate what lies ahead in order to impact the future.
3) When making choices, an uncomplicated lifestyle recognizes that our lives are connected to others. Our choice to pursue an uncomplicated life will positively impact those around us. You can have a life that is full but not busy—there is a difference! An uncomplicated life is clear and purposeful about what we are doing and why so that we can treat others according to our values. Brenda lives in a community where she regularly sees farming practices in place that were used a hundred years ago; this often causes her to reflect on what’s truly necessary for daily living. An uncomplicated life gives us the freedom to live our day-to-day rhythms in a way that is true to our values.
About Brenda:
Brenda Yoder lives at Picket Fence Farm in Shipshewana, Indiana, where she and her husband, Ron, have been lifelong residents. Ron’s family farm began with four dairy cows in the 1950s, and that land is still farmed by the Yoder family. Brenda has a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Grace College and Seminary, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor through the University of St Francis, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Purdue University.
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