Memorable Moment

In the four years that I have attended Wheaton College, I have come to reflect on the kind of person that I am, not just personally, but also spiritually. While this class has certainly had its difficult moments, I am instead going to describe my favorite moment regarding my experience. My favorite moments have been learning about synesthesia and how it impacts my perspective on the world. In class, I learned that I am the only one with this unique ability, leading to everyone asking questions about how I perceive numbers, letters, colors, sounds, and other stimuli. While I felt a little bit put on the spot, it was fun to explain that I interpret numbers as having a specific color, and that they have had these colors since I learned how to count, but not the other way around. The number five is always yellow, but the color yellow does not automatically mean the number five. Another part was that I enjoyed discussing was how musical notes each had a different color, and when I was reading music, the notes themselves had a slight outline of the color I associated them with, along with the color itself appearing in my mind when I would play them, leading to musical notes being accompanied by an automatic color-shifting lightshow within my mind's eye. I found it fascinating to learn about how this part of myself connected to seemingly religious experiences, along with renowned authors, musicians, and artists. While I initially thought that I was alone in having my synesthesia, I discovered that this is something that I can share with others, and allow them to see things from my perspective, even if it is something as simple as numbers and sounds.