It's Time To Say Get Your Head Out of There

It’s Thursday, July 9th, 2026, and it’s time to ask: what do you believe? That’s an important question, and one that many people are confused about. The answer isn’t always simple.

So, what did you believe the title of this piece was referring to? Did you think it was asking if you had your head up your ass? Guys, were you thinking it referred to between a pair of breasts? Both would be wrong.

It refers to the age-old idea of sticking your head in the sand.

Far too many have their head in the sand! It’s long past time we start helping them to pull their heads out and wake them up! For years, everybody has talked about being “woke” and what that meant. But in truth, most of those people aren’t “woke.”

On the contrary, they’re sadly being manipulated by a broken world. And they’ll argue their point until they’re blue in the face. Like little children throwing a tantrum, these people want what they want. They want their truth to be the only truth. They want the easy road, despite it being unrealistic. And they want it all, and they want it now!

Functioning adults know this isn’t how the world works. The world is a nasty, ugly place, where you have to scratch at the surface to see what could be, rather than what is. And it sucks, but that’s life.

“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place, and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you've got to be willing to take the hit…”

— Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone)

Not everybody is a Stallone fan, but the quote is raw, real, and honest. The world will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. Let that sink in. It’ll keep beating you until you stop letting it.

There are ways to drag your head out of the sand. One of them is pretty simple. It has to do with becoming aware. Not woke, but aware. What does it mean to be aware?

Awareness

Awareness is when you start noticing your thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and surroundings in the present. It’s being present and in the moment, instead of being distracted by the million things we feel like we have to contend with each day.

Being aware also means understanding the inner world in which you live, and connecting with your deeper beliefs. It’s when you know your essence. You know who you are.

Does Awareness Matter

When you’re aware, you can improve your mental health and help to reduce stress in your life. You begin responding more intentionally than with automatic responses. Even more, it will help you be more connected to yourself, others, and your immediate environment.

You’ll be present in the moments, both good and bad, and be able to cope with the bad ones.

How To Work On Awareness

If you want to become more aware and enjoy the benefits of being self-aware and in the moment, there are practices you can adopt.

1. Reducing Autopilot

• Bring awareness to everyday things like your commute, meals, and walking.

• Break habitual patterns by pausing to check in with your body and mind.

2. Reflection and Introspection

• Take stock of your emotions, motivations, and personal meaning.

• Try journaling or simple quiet reflection to help understand your feelings and how your experiences affect you.

3. Listen to your body

• Be aware of sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes during your day.

• Take note of how you feel as you move about, breathe, or interact with your world.

4. Mindfulness Exercises

• Mindful breathing is when you focus on your breath, gently returning attention when your mind drifts off.

• Scan your body scan means noticing the sensations throughout your body.

• Move mindfully, or pay attention to how you feel when you walk around or even when stretching at the gym or just getting out of bed.

5. Think about your thoughts without judging yourself.

• Treat a thought as a mental event, but not something that has to control you.

• Train yourself not to react. Observe your emotions without responding first.

Takeaways

We must start getting our heads out of the sand. There is so much going on in the world, and it’s affecting everybody. But at the same time, we have to encourage others to wake up and become aware of things they don’t see.

There are still fights in our culture. Fights that have to be won on the right side. And that means getting into tricky areas in the 21st century.

And some events are coming, events that, should they go one way rather than the other, the people we’ve trusted to lead us aren’t going to be able to help us. Not that many are going to look to the ones we can’t trust as a source of help.

Lastly, when people collectively get their heads out of the sand, they may begin to realize the truths that they’ve been missing. Imagine it: a whole generation coming together, realizing that we have a lot of work to do as a species.

Or, we could simply end up with fewer people thinking that human versus a moving car with a scared driver ends up as anything other than bad for humans. Because, as we’ve all seen, there’s a generation of people out there who think they can stop a moving car with their bare hands.