"Beside Myself" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms

0:00 - How to Say, “Beside myself…” 0:42 - Examples of “Beside myself…” 1:28 - Meaning of “Beside myself…” 2:21 - Origin of “Beside myself…” 4:38 - More Examples of “Beside myself…” 5:28 - Conclusion “Beside myself…” You may have heard someone say, “I was beside myself with joy,” meaning that they were overcome, filled with joyful, happy, positive emotion. You may have also heard, “I was beside myself in sorrow,” meaning that the person was overcome, inundated by sad, depressing, miserable emotion. “When I found out that my first child was a girl, I was beside myself in happiness!” a new father might be telling his friend. Maybe your friend is telling you, “After I lost my legs in the accident, I was beside myself. I’m much happier now that I’ve adjusted to life like this, though!” “I’m always beside myself with boredom when I go shopping with my girlfriend,” your friend might be telling you. As you can see, the idiom, “beside myself,” conveys that you are filled, overcome with some sort of emotion; be it happiness, sadness, boredom, etc. If you are “beside yourself,” then there is a particular emotion, feeling that is controlling you. When the idiom, “beside myself,” is used without mentioning the emotion felt, it is taken to mean a negative emotion; such as sadness, sorrow, misery, pain. The origin of “beside myself” or “beside yourself” can be traced back to ancient Greece, where “beside” meant on the outside or absent from. “Beside” is usually defined as being next to, to the side of something or someone; but if you think of “besides”, you will see that it can mean outside of, separate from. “Besides Toronto, I also visited Montréal, Halifax, Manitoba, Vancouver and Yellowknife,” a friend might be telling you about her trip to Canada. In ancient Greece, they believed that if you became overcome with emotion, your soul would leave your body and then you’d be “beside yourself” - next to and apart from yourself! There are many times in our lives when we become filled with, overwhelmed with emotion and we may let that emotion “get the better of us”; whether it’s sadness, anger, happiness, despair, etc. Whenever emotion is getting the better of us, however, we should stop and do nothing. Let that emotion pass, let it fade away… … listen to some music, take a nap, have a tea. Then, once you have “gathered yourself”, you can think rationally, logically, with a “clear head”. “After I saw garbage strewn all about the beach, I was beside myself with disappointment,” your friend might be telling you about their disgust toward humans. Maybe a new playground just opened in your community, “The kids were beside themselves with excitement when we went to the park!” “You’ve been beside yourself all day. Will you tell me what’s wrong?” you might ask your little sister after seeing her sulk around the house. So, the next time you want to say that you are overwhelmed, filled with emotion, just start off, “I’m beside myself…” #superduperenglishidioms #englishidioms #idioms #proverbs References: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/bl...