make the best of it

Also, make the best of a bad bargain. Adapt as well as possible to a bad situation, bad luck, or similar circumstances, as in Jeff ended up in a cabin without his friends, but decided to make the best of it, or She got the worst possible position, but Dad told her to make the best of a bad bargain. The first term dates from the first half of the 1600s. The second appeared in John Ray’s proverb collection of 1670 and coexisted for a time with variants such as make the best of a bad game and make the best of a bad market, which have died out.