Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): En esta época me siento menos ansioso.

sentirse + adjective focuses more on the internal, subjective experience:
- Me siento menos ansioso. = I feel less anxious.
estar + adjective states more simply how you are (your state), often a bit more neutral:
- Estoy menos ansioso. = I am less anxious.

In this sentence, Me siento menos ansioso is completely natural and maybe slightly more focused on how you feel from the inside.
You could also say Estoy menos ansioso; it would still be correct and very common.

Why is it me siento and not just siento?

Sentir and sentirse are related but different:

sentir (non‑reflexive) = to feel something, to sense something, or to be sorry:
- Siento frío. = I feel cold (physically).
- Siento mucho lo que pasó. = I’m very sorry about what happened.
sentirse (reflexive) = to feel in the sense of “to feel (a certain way, emotionally/physically)”:
- Me siento ansioso. = I feel anxious.

When you’re describing how you feel (emotion, mood, general physical state), you almost always use sentirse:
Me siento + adjective (bien, mal, cansado, enferma, ansioso, etc.).

Where does the me go in a sentence like this? Could you say En esta época siento me menos ansioso?

No. The reflexive pronoun me must go before the conjugated verb in a simple sentence like this:

✅ En esta época me siento menos ansioso.
❌ En esta época siento me menos ansioso.

General rules:

With a single conjugated verb:
- Me siento mal.
With a conjugated verb + infinitive or gerund:
- Me quiero sentir mejor. / Quiero sentirme mejor.
- Me estoy sintiendo mejor. / Estoy sintiéndome mejor.

Why is there no yo? Can I say Yo en esta época me siento menos ansioso?

Spanish usually drops the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él, etc.) because the verb ending (here, -o in siento) already shows who the subject is.

Me siento menos ansioso. = I feel less anxious. (perfectly natural)

You can add yo:

Yo en esta época me siento menos ansioso.
This is grammatically correct but sounds a bit heavy unless you want to emphasize “I (as opposed to others)”:
Yo en esta época me siento menos ansioso, pero mi hermano está peor.
= I feel less anxious these days, but my brother is worse.

Does ansioso change if the speaker is a woman? How does gender agreement work here?

Yes. Ansioso is an adjective, and it must agree with the gender and number of the subject:

Male speaker, singular: Me siento menos ansioso.
Female speaker, singular: Me siento menos ansiosa.
Group of only males or mixed group: Nos sentimos menos ansiosos.
Group of only females: Nos sentimos menos ansiosas.

So a woman would naturally say:
En esta época me siento menos ansiosa.

What exactly does En esta época mean? Is it like “in this era,” “these days,” or “at this time of year”?

En esta época can mean “at this time / in this period”, and the exact nuance depends on context:

These days / at this point in my life:
- En esta época me siento menos ansioso. = These days I feel less anxious.
At this time of year / this season (broad sense):
- En esta época del año hace mucho calor. = At this time of year it’s very hot.

It doesn’t usually sound as grand or historical as “in this era” in English. It’s more like “in this period”, often understood from context (current months, a phase of life, etc.).

What’s the difference between época, temporada, estación, and tiempo? Could I replace época with one of these?

They’re all related to time, but used differently:

época
- A period of time, sometimes vague:
  - En esta época me siento menos ansioso. = These days / in this period I feel less anxious.
  - En esa época trabajaba mucho. = At that time/period I used to work a lot.
temporada
- A season/period with a specific activity or characteristic:
  - temporada de lluvias (rainy season)
  - temporada de exámenes (exam period)
  - En esta temporada del año estoy muy ocupado.
estación
- The four seasons (primavera, verano, otoño, invierno) or a station (train station).
tiempo
- Very broad: time, weather, era, length of time.
  - No tengo tiempo. = I don’t have time.
  - En aquel tiempo… = In those days…
  - Hace buen tiempo. = The weather is nice.

In your sentence, época is the most natural.
You might say En esta temporada if you mean something like “in this season (of the year)” or a specific period (e.g. work season), but it slightly shifts the nuance.
En este tiempo is possible in some contexts but can sound a bit literary or vague here.

Why is menos ansioso used instead of something like más poco ansioso?

Spanish uses comparatives in a straightforward way:

más + adjective = more + adjective
menos + adjective = less + adjective

So:

más ansioso = more anxious
menos ansioso = less anxious

Saying más poco ansioso is awkward and unnatural; native speakers simply don’t form it that way.
To express “less anxious,” always prefer menos ansioso.

Could the word order change? For example, can I say En esta época me siento ansioso menos?

No. That order sounds wrong in Spanish.

Normal word order for this pattern is:

Me siento + adverb (if any) + adjective
- Me siento menos ansioso.
- Me siento muy cansado.
- Me siento un poco nerviosa.

Putting menos after the adjective (ansioso menos) is not correct here.

What tense is siento, and how is sentirse conjugated?

Siento is present indicative, 1st person singular (yo) of sentir/sentirse.

Sentirse is a stem‑changing verb: e → ie in most present‑tense forms.

Present indicative of sentirse:

yo me siento
tú te sientes
él / ella / usted se siente
nosotros(as) nos sentimos (no stem change)
vosotros(as) os sentís (in Spain; also without stem change)
ellos / ellas / ustedes se sienten

So me siento = I feel (myself).

Could I say Me estoy sintiendo menos ansioso instead? What’s the difference?

You can say:

Me estoy sintiendo menos ansioso.
or
Estoy sintiéndome menos ansioso.

These are grammatically correct and mean something like:

I’m feeling less anxious (right now / lately, in a more dynamic, ongoing sense).

However, in Spanish, the simple present is usually enough for states and feelings:

Me siento menos ansioso.

So Me estoy sintiendo is possible but used less often; it can sound more emphatic or temporary, depending on context. For a general statement (“these days I feel less anxious”), Me siento menos ansioso is more natural.

Does ansioso always mean “anxious” like with anxiety, or can it mean “eager” too?

Ansioso has two main meanings, depending on context:

Worried / anxious / nervous (psychological anxiety):
- Últimamente me siento muy ansioso por el trabajo.
  = Lately I feel very anxious because of work.
Eager / excited (to do something) (often with por or de
- infinitive):
- Estoy ansioso por verte.
  = I’m eager / can’t wait to see you.

In your sentence Me siento menos ansioso, without extra context it’s usually interpreted as less anxious / less worried, but in a suitable context it could also mean less eager / less impatient.

Is there any difference in meaning between En esta época me siento menos ansioso and En esta época estoy menos ansioso?

Both are correct and very close in meaning:

En esta época me siento menos ansioso.
Slight focus on your internal perception: I feel less anxious (inside).
En esta época estoy menos ansioso.
Slightly more neutral, just stating your state: I’m less anxious (these days).

In everyday conversation, many speakers would use them almost interchangeably. The difference is subtle, not grammatical.