go from the frying pan into the fire

To leave or escape some bad, stressful, or dangerous situation into one that is even worse. Those poor refugees went from the frying pan into the fire—they escaped the famine but ended up in a war zone. I thought my old job was stressful, but my new one is 10 times worse. It's like I went from the frying pan into the fire. A: "Now that Christmas is over, shouldn't things be less hectic for you?" B: "Nope, in our family, we have five birthdays between December 27 and January 8. Every Christmas, we pretty much go from the frying pan into the fire."