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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

drop the rope of your struggle with reality

English answer:

stop fighting against reality (/imagining you will change the world)

Added to glossary by Daryo
Dec 16, 2022 16:30
1 yr ago
24 viewers *
English term

drop the rope of your struggle

English Other Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
"Drop the rope of your struggle with reality, remind yourself that “it is what it is” and take a breath."

I heard a similar expression in an audio program that I was using for interpretation practice. I think I have an idea of the meaning, but I'd like to confirm it. I found this explanation:

"An argument or conflict is like a tug-of-war. To win, you have to pull, pull, pull. Someone wins and someone losses.
But what if we didn’t pull, pull, pull? What if we just dropped the rope? What if we chose not to battle?"
https://balancecoaching.com/drop-the-rope/

My questions:
1) How would you reword the term phrase?
2) Is "drop the rope" considered an idiom or a metaphor? Or maybe something else?

Thank you all.
Responses
4 stop fighting against reality (/imagining you will change the world)
5 Refuse to participate
5 Refuse to participate
3 +1 don't spend all of your life pursuing battles'fight for what really matters
Change log

Dec 16, 2022 20:13: philgoddard changed "Field (write-in)" from "idiomatic dictionary proj" to "(none)"

Dec 21, 2022 00:35: Daryo changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/2407412">Oliver Simões's</a> old entry - "drop the rope of your struggle"" to ""stop fighting against reality (/imagining you will change the world)""

Discussion

Yvonne Gallagher Dec 19, 2022:
@ Asker not an idiom at all since none of us natives have ever seen it before. It actually looks like rather mangled English. Are you sure that's what was said? It also doesn't seem to match the meaning in the link you shared at all. In fact, the meaning the author attaches seems rather odd too when claiming that "drop the rope" does NOT mean "capitulate".
no idiom, no metaphor just mangeld English
Oliver Simões (asker) Dec 17, 2022:
AllegoTrans Indeed. But my questions were addressed to specific people in the forum. Please let'em answer for themselves (if they want to). In response to your concern: the context is meditation or, to be more precise, mindfulness meditation. I don't have any text other than what I have already posted since it was taken from my recollection.
AllegroTrans Dec 17, 2022:
Oliver You heard this single phrase in an audio programme. You haven't told us the context. You have found another example.
Asking people here to give you a 100% accurate alternative expression is not realistic. We simply don't know the context of what you heard.
Oliver Simões (asker) Dec 17, 2022:
A couple more questions Danya, that was my impression too (that the phrase is not an idiom). Would you say it’s is a metaphor? Phil, in your opinion is “let go of your grip” synonymous with “drop the rope”? I found this example: “Let go of your grip on your own understanding and trying to figure everything out.” Thank you, guys.
philgoddard Dec 16, 2022:
No, it's not a widely accepted idiom, but from the context it clearly means 'stop struggling'.
danya Dec 16, 2022:
Not a widely accepted idiom It is based on a metaphor, but is not one without a broader context. It is not an idiom proper, because it does not have a readily recognised meaning that would be different to/transcend the sum of meanings of its constituent parts

Responses

11 hrs
English term (edited): Drop the rope of your struggle with reality
Selected

stop fighting against reality (/imagining you will change the world)


"drop the rope" => quit the contest, stop fighting your opponent



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2022-12-17 03:54:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Drop the rope of your struggle with reality, remind yourself that “it is what it is” and take a breath."

can only mean

stop fighting against reality (/imagining you will change the world) - accept that the world is as it is.

or

Don't keep fighting windmills Like Don Quixote, accept windmills will always win.

Nothing more - it says nothing about what could be the next step.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2022-12-17 04:07:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

in the next episode I could see few possible development for the story, "drop the rope" being used as argument for

- total passivity

- resorting to "if you can't beat them, join them"

- still fighting but only selected battles

- and many more, depending on your imagination and real-life experience


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2022-12-17 04:07:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

... few possible developments ...
Peer comment(s):
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : you disagree with AT's conjecture yet paraphrase it? High CL for guesswork
2 days 10 hrs
"guesswork"?? - give ONE plausible scenario where "drop the rope of your struggle with (whatever)" could mean anything else than "quit fighting"? I'm the first to be very cautious about possible alternative meanings, but here I can't imagine any.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you. I like your paraphrase because it's shorter and to the point. That's exactly what I needed."
+1
3 mins

don't spend all of your life pursuing battles'fight for what really matters

7 Tips to Choose Your Battles and Fight for What Matters
https://personalexcellence.co › blog › choose-your-battles
Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn't measured by how many times you stood up to fight. It's not winning battles that makes you happy, but it's.
Note from asker:
Thank you. You didn't answer one of my questions. :-)
I am looking for a shorter phrase that I can use as a synonym.
Maybe "give up fighting for trifles/irrelevancies"?
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard : Yes, it must be from tug of war, though I've never heard of it and it's not easily understandable. Asker: you didn't say you wanted a shorter phrase.
3 hrs
thanks
neutral Christopher Schröder : It just says “give up”, everything else is conjecture. My feeling is the rope thing means you’re pulling something, not tug of war, but who knows?
3 hrs
We don't really have sufficient context and asker only heard it so there is no document; we can only conjecture
disagree Daryo : By which twist of logic could you turn "accept reality - stop fighting against it" into "choose your fights wisely"? // Can't see any connections, these are two mutually independent concepts.
11 hrs
Well the context is totally missing anyway (asker only heard it) so by what logic can you claim to know better?
agree Yvonne Gallagher : no disagree warranted here as conjecture is all that's possible with mangled English and no context
2 days 21 hrs
I should have given a lower CL then....
Something went wrong...
11 hrs

Refuse to participate

But what if we didn’t pull, pull, pull? What if we just dropped the rope? What if we chose not to battle?

An idiom.
But what if we didn’t pull, pull, pull? What if we just refuse to participate? What if we chose not to argue at all?
Reference:

https://www.youarecurrent.com/2014/03/04/column-metaphors-vs-idioms/

https://www.dictionary.com/e/politics/lying-flat/

Peer comment(s):
neutral Daryo : In this case your suggestion would amount to "Refuse to participate in reality". Context?
25 mins
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : 100% sure of this? It's not an idiom at all
2 days 10 hrs
Something went wrong...
19 days

Refuse to participate

But what if we didn’t pull, pull, pull? What if we just dropped the rope? What if we chose not to battle?

An idiom.
But what if we didn’t pull, pull, pull? What if we just refuse to participate? What if we chose not to argue at all?
Reference:

https://www.youarecurrent.com/2014/03/04/column-metaphors-vs-idioms/

https://www.dictionary.com/e/politics/lying-flat/

Something went wrong...
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