I've only just recently come to the realization that I may have synesthesia. I never considered it before, because I've always assumed that these people literally saw bright flashes of colors every time they saw a number in a way that was extra trippy, but recently I've found out that this isn't exactly the case, at least not for everyone. If you think you've never experienced synesthesia, it's kind of like me saying the word 'winter'. Winter to many people is associated with cold weather and/or snow as learned from experiencing their environment. It's not necessarily prominent, like you don't think about snow every time someone says the word 'winter', but the association is definitely there. That's kind of what its like for me with numbers and colors. I don't cover a large range of numbers, it seems to be just the following:

2 - blue

3 - green

4 - red

7 - yellow

The rest sort of seem colorless or the association is really weak. If you switch the numbers and colors it starts to just feel wrong. Sort of like trying to associate winter with hot, sunny weather. It's just not quite right. Although every time I read about synesthesia, I start realizing I might have more forms. When I was in second grade, I came to the conclusion that 5 was an asshole, kind of like the school yard bully who would kick dirt in your face if you tripped and fell, rather than help you up. Total douche. Although 5 is the only number with a personality to me.

Now just a few minutes ago after reading up on synesthesia, I've realized I may have spatial sequence synesthesia because I think of previous dates in time existing as points in space. Like if you could see what I'm visualizing, its like the year 1990 is definitely off to my left, and follows a number line where 1980 is farther left, and the sequence continues for every 10 decades. If I'm thinking in larger segments I may see it in terms of 100 years. Years that are closer in time, like 2000, haven't mentally been placed on the number line yet. I've always counted years by visualizing this number line and counting backwards. I also think of the 365 days of the year as a circular calendar, and this one is really hard to explain and visualize. If you were to ask me when something occurred, as long as it wasn't too long ago, maybe 2012, and count forward from there, thinking about each year, and drawing an imaginary circle with my finger as I think, each circle representing a year. I would have to do that 2 or 3 times until I got to the current year to tell you how long ago something occurred. It works quicker in my head than I can explain it, and also involves thinking of 1-3 memories per year in order to be 100% positive I'm thinking chronologically. So its like a small, circular memory map for each year that I use to count. If the year in question is too far away I'll usually do things a different way. I'm not sure if that counts as spatial sequence synesthesia or not, but it's definitely weird.

So I don't know if I actually have synesthesia or if I'm just weird, but if I do, then that makes me think it might actually be somewhat more prevalent in the population that most people think, just with varying degrees for different people. For me it just seems normal though.