pull oneself together
verb1
Idiomatic To become mentally focused after a period of being unfocused; to regain control of oneself
- "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.1910, E. M. Forster, chapter 6, in Howards End:
- Synonyms
- pull one's shit together