When people begin to talk about their own quirks, they usually list things such as:
biting their fingernails
tapping their fingers
humming under their breath
needing to recount things
touching each pole as they walk along
straightening everything on their desk
All those annoying, little habits that make us who we are...I'm sure I have many of those odd quirks (okay, so I know I do...), but the one I'm going to talk about today, is something that most people never experience and can't even understand sometimes.
I was recently told that my "quirk" has a name:
synesthesia
And what is it exactly? Well. To put it simply, for me, everything is a color. Every single thing has a color or shade...books, music, movies, people, seasons, months, days, numbers, scents...everything!
For example: in my head, when I hear the name of one of my best friends, "HannahBeth", I immediately see a silvery-purplish color.
Or, when I hear the month, June, I think of a rosy, deep-pink color.
The movie, "Little Women" is a mixture of silvery-white and velvety-red.
The book, "Enemy Brothers" is a navy-blue and gray.
The song, "Tennessee" by Hans Zimmer is a deep, summer-green and golden color.
I think because I view the world in such a way explains why I just so happen to love bright and vivid colors. I love brightly-color and vivid pictures! To me, they just stick out, and the majority of the time, when something that I consider nice or pleasant enters my mind, the colors I view for it are bright and vivid.
Most people think I am odd for the way I think, and for some, they just can't wrap their head around how it works. To be honest, I don't even know how it works myself. It's just something that's there. And from my point of view, I don't know how people live without experiencing this! What is their world like??? What is a world like without viewing it through colors?? Where's the excitement of playing a new piece on the piano if you can't close your eyes and see the colors? Where's the true contentment of enjoying summer, if you can just lie on the grass and close eyes and see the colors that associated with the scents?? I think viewing the world this way is why I am so passionate about photography...I love capturing those colors.
This is my world...over-flowing with color.
Wow! That's really interesting! I didn't know that about you. :) It's cool that you think of stuff in colors. :D
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way!! Growing up, I thought it was normal to associate numbers with colors.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that "1" should be a robin blue. "2" was bright yellow. "3" was a greenish color and so on.
I still think that way!