clip (your) wings

to limit your freedom.

She was afraid that motherhood would clip her wings.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of clip a bird's wings (= to cut the feathers that make it possible for a bird to fly)

• be like a kid in a candy store
• be like a rabbit caught in the headlights
• be like a red rag to a bull
• be like a spare prick at a wedding
• be like chalk and cheese
• be like Fort Knox
• be like looking for a needle in a haystack
• be like painting the Forth Bridge
• be like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic
• be like ships that pass in the night
• be like taking candy from a baby
• be like talking to a brick wall
• be like two peas in a pod
• be like watching grass grow
• be like watching paint dry
• be like water off a duck's back
• be living on another planet
• bells and whistles
• belly laugh
• be long for this world
• be long in the tooth
• be lost for words
• below the belt
• belt out
• belt out something