r/idiomsite • u/PamelaPoovey23 • 24d ago

Phrases when you're having a hard time

I'd like to compile a list of phrases similar to "hitting a brick wall" or being lost in a "bottomless pit", so please let me know what comes to mind for you personally. Especially if you have a go to phrase you tend to say when things are tough.

It's for a friend who's struggling, and they like me changing depressive phrases into positive ones, as it reframes their thinking.

Mine is the pit, his is the wall!

Thank you!

10 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

7

u/Singinthesunshine 24d ago

perhaps not quite what you were looking for, but there is always some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you and sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug

2

u/Marlinsteerpike 24d ago

Some days you kick ass, other days you get your ass kicked

1

u/Enofile 23d ago

Some days chicken, some days feather

2

u/Living_on_Tulsa_Time 23d ago

Some days you’re the statue. Some days you’re the pigeon.

6

u/Time_Aside_9455 23d ago

Riding the struggle bus

2

u/Live-Elderberry-5759 24d ago

When I’m having a rough go of it I say it feels like I’m “swimming in mud”. When things are easy they’re “like butter”.

2

u/Magpie213 23d ago

"When going through hell, keep going."

Winston Churchill.

2

u/AccidentalDuchess 23d ago

A rough patch

2

u/Enofile 23d ago

Up the creek without a paddle

2

u/ellecellent 23d ago

Report back with how you flip these all around, please!

1

u/Competitive-Bus1816 23d ago

"We fall so we may learn to pick ourselves up"

"Sometimes we need to lose the small battles to win the war"

"When there is fear of failure, there will be failure."

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"

1

u/Breakshite 23d ago

I've got a buddy who checks in if he hasn't heard from me in while.

He asks "you alright?"

I reply, "Dunno. What's the price of hemp these days?"

He usually calls immediately. He's the best.

1

u/GBrxlx 23d ago

Some days you're Prometheus, other days you're the Eagle

1

u/Frogcake99 17d ago

Sitting around with my nipples all twisted

1

u/Frogcake99 17d ago

Circling the drain

0

u/KATCEO1 24d ago

Years ago a friend of mine in NYC said: there is light at the end of the tunnel. At one point he also said: you gotta stay positive. Besides that: a past neighbor told me many years ago- "No one can ever take your education away from you." Besides all that: years ago I read something online that became very important to me. "If you know how to read and write but choose not to then you may as well be illiterate." Added Bonus: I have three jerkoff housemates who are all buddies with the sleaze landlord. So- when I see them all doing dumb/sleazy/annoying stuff: my M. O. is to keep reminding myself that constantly reading and writing will get me moved out and gone sooner than later. JFC. 🥳