TrUe ColOuRs

A hard week is behind me and I can say: YES! I survived! Yesterday I had the feeling I was going to be told off for one thing I wasn't sure I did correctly. Instead, I got told off for two things that didn't have anything to do with my first fear. Life never ceases to surprise me! If there's one thing that keeps me going in this cold and rainy winter (it's been really cold here recently - bora times), it is my weird "gift" of seeing things in colours. Some of you already know about this, others might not. The fact is that I see numbers, the letters of the alphabet and the days of the week in different colours. So when I get asked to find code 1463 number I remember it because 1 is white, 4 is green, 6 is red and 3 is yellow. No, I am not making this up. Ask me in a week and the colors will still be exactly the same :)

                                    I wonder if he has synesthesia...

When I was little I thought it was normal to see numbers, letters and days the way I saw them. I just thought the colours may vary so one day I went up to my mum and asked: "Muuuuuuum? What colour is Wednesday for you?" She smiled, stroked my head (probably thinking my disability was far greater than just physical) and said: Hmmm...I think it's pink." You cannot imagine how disappointed I was when I asked her the same question a week later and she told me Wednesday was orange! I called her a liar and a cheat: "Days don't change colour!!!" That's when she started realising I wasn't joking. It took me a while to explain how everything works in my brain (and I am still not sure I got my point across, although I tried really hard!). Every number and every letter has a different colour. If one is white and 3 is yellow then 13 is white and yellow. For words it's a bit different. I only see all the letters in a word in different colours when I first hear a name or a word, after that I just see words as if they were printed in a book (thank goodness, imagine reading a 500 pages long book and seeing every single letter in a different colour. I think it would give anyone a headache!). 

After my mum disappointed me so badly, I decided not to talk about synesthesia anymore. I would just use it to my advantage all the time: when learning how to make calculations, when memorising new words, remembering appointments...But I still felt misunderstood. My life changed when I met T. I think it was in first year and we were still getting to know each other. I had started telling her that "I have this weird thing...I see numbers and letters in colours..." and was waiting for her to tell me I was completely insane, but to my great surprise she just went: "Aw, me too! How cool!" We then spent a whole evening going through the alphabet and counting to see if we had any colours in common. I would go "L is green" and T. would say: "No! it's blue" (I don't think I got this right, T., I'm sorry! :)

I now know that I am not that insane, but I also know I am not a genius or extremely talented because of synesthesia (apparently many famous musicians and artists in general had it). I just know it has always helped me, both from a practical point of view (memory-wise) and a psychological point of view (on a rainy day I just need to deal with numbers for my life to be a bit less dull). 

Despite having asked my mum a thousand times, she still hasn't told me what happens in her head when she hears the word Friday or 25,908 or a completely unknown word. My dad is hopeless too (he's also a man, which surely doesn't make things easier!). So please, please, please, tell me how it works for you. I am dying to know!!! Meanwhile I wish you all a very colorful weekend! Mine is going to be chocolatey brown :)