Yoke around your neck.
Yoke around your neck.
A 'Yoke around your neck' illustrates bearing a heavy, burdensome responsibility. Historically, a yoke is a wooden beam placed on oxen, which makes the metaphor apt for describing carrying heavy burdens that significantly hinder one's freedom or comfort.
Debt can feel like a yoke around your neck.
Debt can feel like a heavy burden that is continuously weighing you down.
The responsibilities of the job became a yoke around his neck.
The demands of his job became an overwhelming and inescapable burden.
That old grudge is a yoke around your neck; let it go.
Holding onto an old grudge is like carrying a heavy load that you should release.