Everyone secretly waits for the day they realize they have superpowers. Maybe you wake up the day after a suspicious spider bite, and can now climb across your bedroom ceiling. Or maybe someone pushes you a little too far at work one day, and next thing you know, you’re green, massive, and your favorite shirt is in tatters on the floor. But for me, my day came during my junior year of high school. Just a normal Wednesday -- or so I thought.
Somehow, during one of my classes, we stumbled upon the conversation of Preschool. We talked about coloring, and nap time, and learning our letters. One of my friends noted her difficulty learning the letters, and I replied, “Yeah, I would get frustrated because the colors of the printed letters on the wall never matched the colors of the letters in my head.” The rest of the room looked me in confusion. It was then I realized the colors that constantly played in my head were absent from most other peoples’ minds.
I had a genetic disease, mental illness, condition -- call it what you want -- called synesthesia. Synesthesia is a condition where one sense is simultaneously perceived by additional senses. For example, not only hearing something, but ‘seeing’ that sound in your mind. My personal form of synesthesia joins almost all of my senses with a color in my mind. For example, the letter M is red in my mind. The state of North Carolina is forest green, chicken tastes orange, and the song “Hey Ya” by Outkast is so purple that is hurts.
It’s estimated that one in every 2000 people has some form of synesthesia. There’s no distinct way of diagnosing the condition, especially because everyone’s form is different and many people don’t realize that the way their mind works is different than anyone else’s. What scientists do know about synesthesia is that it’s involuntary, genetic, happens more often to women than men, and to people who are left-handed over those who are right-handed. The fact that I’m a right-handed male and the only known member of my family with the condition makes my form of synesthesia all the more unique, and shows just how unpredictable the condition can be. Many scientists are very interested in studying synesthesia, because it may reveal something about the human consciousness and the variance between the wiring of my brain compared to someone without the condition.
There are a lot of benefits to having synesthesia. It help me remember things. For example, when someones tells me their name, I register their name with a certain color. When I see that person again, that color enters my mind, making it easier for me to recall their name. Having synesthesia is also a lot of fun. Having colors constantly swirl through my mind, intermingling, mixing, and moving with all the external stimuli around me is soothing, and gives me something to do during boring classes.
For those of you who had never heard of synesthesia, I’m glad you got a chance to read my article. Welcome to the weird, confusing, and colorful place that is my mind. And to those of you, who after reading this article, think you may have a form of synesthesia, I encourage you to do some research on it. If you end up in the same boat as me and around 350,000 other people with the disorder, welcome to the club. We have meetings every Monday and Wednesday.
