Audrey Roloff Defends Decision to Leave ‘Little People, Big World’

Audrey Roloff doesn’t regret her and husband Jeremy Roloff‘s decision to leave Little People, Big World behind.

The couple announced in July that fans of the TLC reality show would no longer be following their lives with 1-year-old daughter Ember. This week, she took to Instagram to clap back at people who thought that the choice was a foolish one.

She started a lengthy explanation with a comparison to her and Jeremy’s decision to get married and have a child, saying they were “bombarded with negativity” from people who thought they were giving up their “freedom” and ability to “have a life.”

“Then just a couple month ago we stepped away from [Little People, Big World] and people would say things like, ‘Why would you walk away from tv? Seems like it gave you guys a lot of freedom…’ SIGH,” she wrote.

She continued, “I think the meaning of the word – FREEDOM – has been grossly misinterpreted and skewed. You see, getting married, having a baby, and walking away from the tv show are some of the most freeing things Jer and I have ever done in our entire lives. Did we have fears about each one? Yes. Did we feel unequipped or unqualified? Yes. But these life moments and decisions haven’t been confining, restricting, and inhibiting… they’ve been liberating, redeeming, and empowering.”

“All this to say, I think freedom is more often found when we choose sacrificial love over selfish desires, when we choose to surrender and trust the Lord rather than cling to the things that give us a sense of control,” she explained. “I think sometimes our humanness is tempted to misinterpret freedom for escape…. that if we have no moral guidelines, no commitments, no sense of direction and no authority, then we are fee… but true freedom is not having everything we crave. It’s our ability to give up our cravings, and being OK with it. That’s living free.”

Outside of the show, the couple has been preparing to release their first book, A Love Letter Life: Pursue Creatively, Date Intentionally, Love Faithfully, which will be on shelves in April 2019.

“We believe everyone has a unique love story and we want people to be super stoked to press into their own love story. We want readers to prepare more for their marriage than their wedding [day],” Jeremy told PEOPLE in August. “I think social media can paint facades, so [Audrey and I] hope that people will walk away [from the book] knowing that we aren’t perfect, our [dating] relationship wasn’t perfect. We learned from our struggles and we came out stronger on the other side.”

Photo credit: Instagram/Audrey Roloff