canoe最早指的是樹幹挖空了心製成的木船，paddle是一種形狀短寬的槳。paddle one's own canoe指「劃自己的船」，有自立立、不依賴別人的意思，另外還有不多管別人閒事的意思。表示後一種意思的時候相當於mind one's own business.
看看老外聊天時怎麼用paddle one's own canoe：
A Sally depends on her parents'help，so she doesn't have to have a part-time job.
B But I hope she can paddle her own canoe after gradauting from college.
A薩莉生活都依靠她爸媽，所以她不用做兼職工作。
B但我希望她大學畢業後能夠獨立一點。
paddle one's own canoe例句精選：
Now that you're 30, people expect you to paddle your own canoe—you can't just live with your parents forever.
現在你已經30歲了，你需要獨立養活自己，不能永遠和父母住在一起。
With no one managing him, he was basically left to paddle his own canoe.
由於沒有人管他，他基本上只能自力更生了。
As far as the rest of Europe is concerned we've just got to paddle our own canoe.
就歐洲其他國家而言，我們只能自力更生。
評價某人獨立堅強，除了paddle one's own canoe外，還可以這樣表達：
fend for yourself 獨立照顧自己
As long as you get used to in this city，then you can fend for yourself.
等到你可以適應這個城市，你就可以自己照顧自己了。
I ride on my own melt. 執意做事。
No matter what，I decided to go to work and travel for two years.I simply ride on my own melt.
不論如何，我決定要去打工旅遊兩年，我想要做自己想
做的事