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canoe
paddle one's own canoe
Fig. to do something by oneself; to be alone. I've been left to paddle my own canoe too many times. Sally isn't with us. She's off paddling her own canoe.
paddle your own canoe
(informal) to be independent and not need help from anyone else We hoped that after he left college he'd paddle his own canoe.
paddle one's own canoe
Be independent and self-reliant, as in It's time Bill learned to paddle his own canoe. This idiom alludes to steering one's own boat. [c. 1800]