It's April 1st, so the A to Z challenge is now officially started! Over the past few weeks, the approaching kickoff made me feel anxious. But what does that mean?  

 

Was I greatly worried or full of mental distress because of apprehension of danger or misfortune?

 

Or was I eager or looking forward to something?

 

I could be either one of those because anxious is a contronym. Saying I'm anxious could mean I'm excited about something, or it could mean I'm apprehensive about something. Both meanings for anxious usually produce a sensation in the gut, but one is a happy flutter and the other is a sad churning.

 

As for me being anxious for the start of the A to Z challenge, it's actually a little bit of both definitions. I've been looking forward to meeting lots of new blogging friends, but I've also been very worried about keeping up with the posts.

 

I also discovered that like a glass with water to the halfway mark, the way anxious is used might give a clue to the speaker's outlook on life. I almost always use anxious to mean I'm nervous (and assumed that's the way everyone else used it), and I'm definitely a glass half empty kind of gal. But while talking with my brother, who sees the glass as half full, he said he always uses anxious to mean he's excited. Granted this is only a two person sample, but I thought it was interesting that we mostly use anxious in different contexts.

 

And because visuals are always more fun:

 

Sarah was anxious to see her father…

 

 

… but she was anxious about meeting her stepmother.

 

Since today's letter is A, I'd also like to say thank you to Arlee Bird for creating this crazy blogging challenge. It's such a great way to meet new people and to discover new things about the way we blog. Thanks, Arlee! 

 

Are you familiar with contronyms? Do you usually use anxious in the positive or negative sense and does that correlate with a half-full/half-empty outlook on life? How Adorable is Freya with her letter A?

 

 

I use Mollum to help control spam in the comments, and it's only supposed to challenge with a CAPTCHA if it's unsure whether a comment is spam or not. Comments make me happy, so if you get a CAPTCHA, please persevere through the slight annoyance. Thank you!    

It's April 1st, so the A to Z challenge is now officially started! Over the past few weeks, the approaching kickoff made me feel anxious. But what does that mean?  

 

Was I greatly worried or full of mental distress because of apprehension of danger or misfortune?

 

Or was I eager or looking forward to something?

 

I could be either one of those because anxious is a contronym. Saying I'm anxious could mean I'm excited about something, or it could mean I'm apprehensive about something. Both meanings for anxious usually produce a sensation in the gut, but one is a happy flutter and the other is a sad churning.

 

As for me being anxious for the start of the A to Z challenge, it's actually a little bit of both definitions. I've been looking forward to meeting lots of new blogging friends, but I've also been very worried about keeping up with the posts.

 

I also discovered that like a glass with water to the halfway mark, the way anxious is used might give a clue to the speaker's outlook on life. I almost always use anxious to mean I'm nervous (and assumed that's the way everyone else used it), and I'm definitely a glass half empty kind of gal. But while talking with my brother, who sees the glass as half full, he said he always uses anxious to mean he's excited. Granted this is only a two person sample, but I thought it was interesting that we mostly use anxious in different contexts.

 

And because visuals are always more fun:

 

Sarah was anxious to see her father…

 

 

… but she was anxious about meeting her stepmother.

 

Since today's letter is A, I'd also like to say thank you to Arlee Bird for creating this crazy blogging challenge. It's such a great way to meet new people and to discover new things about the way we blog. Thanks, Arlee! 

 

Are you familiar with contronyms? Do you usually use anxious in the positive or negative sense and does that correlate with a half-full/half-empty outlook on life? How Adorable is Freya with her letter A?

 

 

I use Mollum to help control spam in the comments, and it's only supposed to challenge with a CAPTCHA if it's unsure whether a comment is spam or not. Comments make me happy, so if you get a CAPTCHA, please persevere through the slight annoyance. Thank you!