pull yourself up
Rise by effort
Pull yourself up means to lift your body using your arms, as in exercise or climbing: She pulled herself up onto the ledge.
The phrase also means to improve your situation through effort: He pulled himself up from poverty.
The fuller expression pull yourself up by your bootstraps implies self-improvement without outside help—though it originally described an impossible task.
- bootstrapStart without external resources
- boot strapsLoops for pulling on footwear
- gritDetermination or abrasive particles
- determinationFirmness of purpose
- resilienceCapacity to recover quickly
lift · climb · rise · struggle · rags to riches · hustle · perseverance · sweat · elbow grease · work ethic · ambition · straps · overcome · willpower · grind · hard knocks · effort · tenacity
- proverbsproverbs, sayings, maxims, adages, aphorisms
- perseverancepersist, never give up, tenacity, hang in there, endurance
- success idiomshit the jackpot, strike gold, make it, rags to riches, come out on top
- self-interestselfishness, egoism, look out for number one, every man for himself, greed
pull yourself upsink
Basin with drain
self-destruct · hit rock bottom · fall apart · deteriorate · go downhill
pull yourself upgive up
Stop attempting something
wallow · accept defeat · stagnate · languish · throw in the towel
pull, yourself, pulls, pulled, pulling, puller, self, selves, selfhood