this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2025
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Something explained to me...
I was 41 when I realised that people actually see things in their minds eye. It is not just a metaphor.
Blew my mind, like it is some kind of superpower, you can just imagine stuff, and you see an image of it....
My partner is such a good cook, partly because she can combine flavours in her mind, to check if they will taste good together, that is just fucken cheating.
When people "get a song stuck in their head" they can literally hear it.... How the fuck do you get anything done, you crazy bastards.
I think more what I’ve had to explain is the opposite. Aphantasia exists, so there are people out there (like me and assumingly you) who CANNOT picture stuff in their head.
But yeah I also had to learn people could actually do this as an adult. Boy did that make me not caring to read books make way more sense.
I don't know, I'm pretty sure I've got aphantasia, but I love reading. I just tend to skip over character descriptions and have no clue what any of them are supposed to look like. On the plus side, I'm pretty much never disappointed with casting of an adaptation meaning the characters don't look as I'd imagined them, since it's just not something I do.
i'm utterly unable to imagine new visuals, but i can sorta half-imagine things i've already seen (though they have to be kinda distinct so to stick in the memory), so when i'm reading books all the characters end up looking like actors i've seen that feel like they fit the role. Very strange when i think about it.