sort out — resolve personal issues
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+informalcommon
To clarify or improve your own feelings, thoughts, or situation, especially when you feel confused, upset, or need to make important changes in your life.
Say it like a native
Textbook I need time to resolve my personal emotional difficulties.
Native I need some time to sort my head out.
'Sort out' is the everyday way to talk about getting your life or feelings in order; the formal version is clinical.
Pattern: sort (yourself/someone) out
In use
- After the breakup, he took some time off work to sort himself out.emotions
- Many young people take a gap year to travel or work abroad as a way to sort themselves out before starting university.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I need to sort out myself.
✓ I need to sort myself out.
With a reflexive pronoun, it goes in the middle: 'sort myself out'.
Common collocations
sort out + self/life— myself, my head, my life, things
Don't confuse it
Unlike the B2 sense ('solve a problem'), this sense focuses on resolving internal, personal, or emotional difficulties rather than practical or external issues.
Related
- sort out (organise) — 'sort out' also has the more basic meaning 'organise'; this is the advanced sense.