What does “vzemi se v ratse” mean in Bulgarian?

This comic monologue skewers the pressure to settle down: all his friends have married and had kids, and relatives keep telling him да се вземе в ръце (“to pull himself together”): «трябва да се вземам в ръце». Literally “to take yourself in hand,” it’s the nag every Bulgarian twenty-something knows by heart.

It’s the go-to phrase for “sort your life out,” aimed at anyone seen as drifting: single, jobless, or just sleeping in. It pairs naturally with изостанал (“left behind”) and the grandmother’s favorite comparison to married cousins. The joke lands because the idiom is so familiar it’s almost background noise.