(This is not an idiom, just something I realized as a parent.) Sometimes, being an adult means “reaching into the shit.”
Shit has to be dealt with. My kids - as babies - could not deal with their own shit. It was my job and responsibility as their parent to clean up that shit. And sometimes something would get dropped in the shit. And you gotta reach in.
Nobody likes dealing with shit. Everyone tries to take as little shit as they can. But some days, no matter how I feel - it’s on me to reach into the shit.