pick up the threads (of something)

1. To begin doing something again after it had previously been stopped or on hiatus. The author states that the novel is an attempt to pick up the threads of an unfinished manuscript found in his late father's desk drawer.

2. To try to return something to normal after a very bad experience interrupts it. We've all been trying to pick up the threads of our lives after the economic crash.

pick up the threads

resume something that has been interrupted.

pick up the ˈthreads

start something, for example an activity, a relationship, a career, again after a break: It’s not easy for women returning to work to pick up the threads of their earlier careers.