I Have Synesthesia and I Thought It was Normal

Numbers are colours in my world

Photo by Ruvim Noga on Unsplash

I didn’t find out I had synesthesia until I was well into my twenties.

Why?

Because it’s enormously difficult to find out that the way you experience abstract notions is different from everyone else.

But when I found out and began reading about it, it was like I finally understood my own brain. It was breathtaking.

What’s Synesthesia?

Synesthesia is a ‘perceptual phenomenon’ according to good ol’ Wiki. It’s a linking of the senses broadly unique to the person.

That’s not very clear…there are different types of synesthesia so I’ll go ahead and describe mine for clarity.

I have two types of synesthesia, grapheme-colour synesthesia and spatial sequence synesthesia. Ooeerr.

Grapheme-colour: In short, I see numbers and words inextricably linked to specific colours. They vary in strength depending on the number/word but they always remain the same and have done throughout my life.

Example: I see the number five as a bright yellow. And vice versa.

Spatial: Huh…difficult to explain. I see days and months…well…spatially. Months are on a slightly warped…