so, having gone through the whole cycle yet again

you know, maybe I should make an actual knob, I'm picturing one like on the clothes dryer, you know, with settings and stuff? Like, 'resist pain'. 'Cry'. 'Rant, rave, talk to friends, blog'. 'Smash things; yell; indulge in some sort of physical (but non-destructive) violence that uses up the adrenalin'. (ok, that one was kind of long.)

However, I will not allow 'pull up by bootstraps' to enter the lexicon.

Have you ever tried it? Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, I mean? That's assuming that you have boots, and they happen to be the type with straps. And then - well, effectively what we're talking about is jumping into the air, right? But that's not what's meant. What's implied by the phrase is something that, it turns out, is literally, physically, impossible to do.

Try it sometime, and you'll see why it's such a stupid saying. I think it was yet another shaming tactic invented by the rich and powerful to bully the poor into blaming themselves for their unfortunate life circumstances. Unfortunately, it worked, and continues to infect the thinking of all kinds of people up to this very day.