Synesthesia is a mental condition where the brain is set up incorrectly, blending some of the five senses. I have this beautiful condition, and it changes my perception of reality on a daily basis.

When I look at what I have written so far, I see big blotches of blue-browns, orange-pinks, and yellow-greens. The letters run together, and even though I can physically see them as black, I also see these colors blend in my mind’s eye. Each letter and number has a color, which hasn’t changed since I first learned how to read. This is called Grapheme>Color Synesthesia.

When I think of two people hugging, it gives the feeling of arms wrapped tightly around my neck. I can actually feel it, as if someone is touching me. If someone tells me about the time they wrecked their bike as a kid, I feel my knee get scraped as well as all of the pain that they did. The pain can last a second, or all day. This is called Mirror Touch Synesthesia, and is the most rare form.

When you’re in the room with a gloomy person, you can usually tell how they feel. When I see a gloomy person, I understand their gloom, copy it, and accept it as my own feeling because of my higher empathic levels. This is a branch of Mirror Touch Synesthesia, and you may have both.

When you’re listening to music, what do you see? I see fireworks of colors, bursting with melodies and choruses that make me want to melt into the beautiful pictures painted in my mind. Each instrument and part gets a different color, and the louder they get, the more intensely saturated the color is. This is Sound>Vision Synesthesia.

Yet, no one else will ever see what I see. Although 4% of the population has synesthesia, no two synesthetes ever experience the same thing. Although most synesthetes have red A’s, they often fight about what color 8 is. It’s a blessing and a curse, but I refuse to think of it as a disorder. There’s nothing wrong with being different, even if it is all inside your mind.