pick oneself up off the floor

English

Verb

pick oneself up off the floor (third-person singular simple present picks oneself up off the floor, present participle picking oneself up off the floor, simple past and past participle picked oneself up off the floor)

1. (figuratively) To resume normal activities after a period of being incapacitated by grief or circumstances.
   • 2012, Lisa Cypers Kamen, Harvesting Happiness for Heroes:

     There will be a time when you need to pick yourself up off the floor and get moving, but that time is not right away. If you did not let yourself have a time to grieve, you would cripple the sadness and loss within you, stifling the natural healing and your ability to progressively repair.

   • 2016, B.J. Scott, The Connected Seven, page 10:

     Now, pick yourself up off the floor and be a man about it.

   • 2017, Jon Hershfield, Shala Nicely, Everyday Mindfulness for OCD:

     How do you pick yourself up off the floor when you feel so stuck?

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pick up,‎ off,‎ floor.
   • 2013, Erik Yeager, The Narrow Road: A Pilgrim's Progress, page 89:

     More maniacal laughter ensued as John quickly picked himself up off the floor and scooted on hands and knees back to a sitting position against the rough stone face.

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: ryhdistäytyä (fi)

See also

• pull oneself together
• turn one's life around

Further reading

• “pick yourself up off the floor”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.