Wildly Alive
You Were Never Meant to Live Small
There comes a point where you realize…
You’re not actually tired of your life.
You’re tired of the version of you that you’ve been performing inside of it.
The good woman.
The responsible woman.
The woman who keeps everyone happy, keeps the house together, serves at church, shows up for her family, grows the business, answers the texts, remembers the birthdays, and somehow still thinks she should be doing more.
Girl.
Enough.
God did not create you to spend your one wild, beautiful life managing everybody else’s expectations.
He created you alive.
And I mean really alive.
The kind of alive that laughs too loud.
Creates without needing permission.
Gets barefoot in the grass.
Prays in the middle of the mess.
Dances in the kitchen.
Paints something ugly and calls it art.
Changes her mind.
Says no.
Says yes.
Gets dirty.
Gets dressed up.
Builds something beautiful.
And refuses to apologize for the joy God put inside of her.
You Can Be Both
This is what I love about being a woman of faith.
We don’t have to choose between being grounded and being wild.
We can be soft and strong.
Successful and surrendered.
Classy and barefoot.
Deeply rooted and wildly creative.
We can wear the heels and then kick them off and run through the grass.
We can build businesses and still sit quietly with God.
We can lead rooms and kneel in prayer.
We can be ambitious without making achievement our identity.
We can care deeply without carrying everybody.
We can love Jesus without shrinking ourselves to fit somebody else’s idea of what a Christian woman is supposed to look like.
That is freedom.
Not rebellion.
Not chaos.
Freedom.
What If You Stopped Preserving Your Life and Started Living It?
Somewhere along the way, many women learned how to preserve themselves instead of experience themselves.
Don’t be too loud.
Don’t take up too much space.
Don’t make people uncomfortable.
Don’t want too much.
Don’t spend too much time playing.
Don’t dream too big.
Don’t change.
Don’t disappoint anyone.
Don’t mess it up.
And eventually, we become incredibly good at surviving a life that was never meant to be survived.
But what if God isn’t asking you to preserve yourself?
What if He’s inviting you to become fully alive?
Not perfect.
Not polished.
Not constantly productive.
Alive.
Start With What You Love
I believe creativity is one of the quickest ways back to yourself.
Not because painting, movement, horses, dirt, music, photography, gardening, dancing or playing magically fix everything.
But because when you create, you stop performing.
You start listening.
You notice what lights you up.
You remember what you loved before everybody needed something from you.
And sometimes the thing you’ve been calling a hobby is actually a doorway.
A doorway back to joy.
A doorway back to your body.
A doorway back to your imagination.
A doorway back to the woman God created before you started editing yourself for everyone else.
That’s why I believe in play.
I believe in movement.
I believe in prayer.
I believe in getting outside.
I believe in making beautiful things.
I believe in laughing.
I believe in resting.
I believe in letting your nervous system experience safety while your spirit remembers who it belongs to.
Because you don’t need another list of things you should be doing.
You might need permission to live again.
So Come Alive
Take the walk.
Paint the canvas.
Pray barefoot.
Dance badly.
Go outside.
Sit by the creek.
Make the thing.
Wear the dress.
Laugh with your girlfriends.
Build the business.
Take the day off.
Love your people.
Love yourself well.
And when somebody doesn’t understand the woman you’re becoming?
Let them.
You don’t need a committee meeting to become who God called you to be.
You need courage.
You need surrender.
You need a little play.
And sometimes…
you just need to take your shoes off and remember that the ground beneath you is still good.
You were never meant to live small.
You were created to be wildly alive.
And maybe this is the season you finally stop asking,
“Am I allowed?”
and start asking,
“What would happen if I actually lived?”
Come find me on the ranch.
We’ll pray.
We’ll create.
We’ll move.
We’ll laugh.
We’ll get our feet dirty.
And we’ll remember that a woman can be deeply rooted in God…
and still grow wildly.
- Nikki Evans
Ready to come alive?
Join us on the ranch for the Women of Faith Creative Studio Gathering on Friday, November 6. Make room for prayer, creativity, movement, and connection.
Prefer to begin at home? Explore Wildly Alive — 30 Days to Get Your Creativity Back.