pull oneself together

English edit

pull oneself together (third-person singular simple present pulls oneself together, present participle pulling oneself together, simple past and past participle pulled oneself together)

(idiomatic, reflexive) To become mentally focused after a period of being unfocused; to regain control of oneself
- 1910, E. M. Forster, chapter 6, in Howards End:
  "Damn, damn, damnation!" he murmured, together with such other words as he had learnt from older men. Then he raised his hand to his forehead and said, "Oh, damn it all—" which meant something different. He pulled himself together. He drank a little tea, black and silent, that still survived upon an upper shelf. He swallowed some dusty crumbs of cake. Then he went back to the sitting-room, settled himself anew, and began to read a volume of Ruskin.

to become mentally focused after a period of being unfocused