one's bearings

(one's) bearings

Knowledge or awareness of one's orientation, position, or abilities relative to one's surroundings or situation. It took me a little while to find my bearings in the new office, but after a week, I felt as if I'd been working there for years. We need to get above the tree line before dark or we'll risk losing our bearings in these woods. Sarah had a little trouble getting her bearings after waking up in the new home for the first time.
See also: bearing
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*one's bearings

the knowledge of where one is; the knowledge of how one is oriented to one's immediate environment. (*Typically: get ~; find ~; have ~; lose ~; tell one ~.) After he fell, it took Ted a few minutes to get his bearings. Jean found her compass and got her bearings almost immediately.
See also: bearing
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • (one's) bearings
  • at (one's) doorstep
  • at doorstep
  • a change of scenery
  • a change of scene
  • be in a world of (one's) own
  • be, live, etc. in a world of your own
  • at expense
  • at somebody's expense
  • at someone's expense
References in periodicals archive
However, there are situations when one could lose one's bearings. This is when a CRISIS occurs.
Dealing with media
Applied to the molecular combing technique, which allows the direct visualisation of large regions of the genome, the Genomic Morse Code makes it possible to get one's bearings within the genome, locate genetic events and spot potential anomalies.
Genomic Vision obtains three new patents for Genomic Morse Code method in USA, Japan, Israel
In an absorbing story about finding one's bearings, two lonely boys take a trip into the wilderness in 1945.
History comes alive
But it is hard to get one's bearings on just what one is looking at, because from each angle, the perspective changes, and with it the impression of the scale and materials of this mutant sculpture.
Felix Schramm
Many levels are also populated by cops who, while not smart enough to block escape routes, fire their guns nonstop, making it tough to stop and get one's bearings. Combined with the first-person POV, this often means the only way to figure out the correct series of jumps, slides and swings needed to escape a dangerous area is to die over and over until one has memorized the route.
Mirror's Edge
There are enough references to the familiar characters and events of The Wizard of Oz to comfort the traveler, but it takes a while to get one's bearings. Our guide and narrator, the author, has a slightly hoarse voice that gives the listener the impression that he is speaking covertly of the mysteries he is telling us.
Son of a Witch
They have adapted themselves to the new situation diversely, and it can often be seen that there are only a few guidelines for Czech schools, along with their students and teachers, to find one's bearings in the tangle of offers.
Czech Schools and the Opportunities of Grant Support
As far as I remember, the Ponte dei Tre Archi is the last bridge crossing the Rio di Canareggio before the lagoon (I know, though, how easy it is to lose one's bearings when the ocean is in the wrong direction).
Letters
It was found that changing technology demands much more of authors and that hypertext articles can be hard to find or to locate one's bearings in once inside.
The Riches of Hypertext for Scholarly Journals