How did you discover you were hyperphantasic?

I have always known I was different however i never understood how, I always liked drawing and as a kid when i would draw my favourite cartoon characters to high detail from my mind, my mother and her friends would always ask how I did that? or as i grew older and for art class I would have to draw a rabbit or horse as homework and i would forget to do it so id have to do it before class, my friends would ask the same, i always found it odd that people would be amazed by it, but i never thought much of it cuz i was young, my mother was very neglectful so she didnt care much aside from showing off to her friends. when doing my A-levels in Fine Arts, I was always able to produce a Final piece easily and that scored full marks from my teachers (15/15) and at the last minute because in my head i already did it all i had to do was "print" it from my mind to the canvas, my peers didnt like it much as I did virtually no work and got the highest grades. on various occasions during my degree I would be doing multiple things at the same time during lectures which would bother my teachers so they would single me out and scold me for not paying attention, i would tell them i was infact paying attention to which they would reply with "tell me what I just said" and i would proceed to say exactly what they just said word by word cuz of the strong memory formed specially audio, they were shocked. All my close friends have always described me as very confident which i never agreed with however when you can see yourself seeing something in such vivid detail then it becomes easier to do because you "have already done it". I have always had this sense that im different possibly smarter however never did super well in maths or chemistry. it wasnt until I accidentally came across an article about Hyper phantasia that I started looking into it and finally figured it out, it has made my life much more easier to deal with as I understand my self more, this has shaped the way i do things a lot, things i do that seem weird to others or incredible, i know why now. this realisation has helped the way I see my self in that I always thought i was a bit of a wimp or even a down right coward for not being able to watch horror movies, but other people dont experience those movies like I do, because i have to remember those shocking scenes much more vividly, they can forget, i cant. finding out im Hyperphantastic has helped my shift the way i think about my self in this sense, like if i were to be allergic to nuts (horror movies) and i avoid nuts that wouldnt make me a coward. Even my dreams and nightmares are much more vivid, so real in fact that sometimes i wake and im confussed for a few seconds.

in a way, i've always been able to tell a difference between me and the rest of society but in truth i'm kind of rebellious so i've had no choice but to show up as my authentic self either ways. i mean, in real life i don't go around trying to impose my experiences on people but i do find myself sharing once i get comfortable with a person... that phase doesn't last long as well as it's only because i'm subconsciously/unconsciously letting the people know that they should be safe around me... after that has been established i go back to keeping my experiences to myself. For me, its mostly because i've accepted the fact that my exposure to high sensory stimulation isn't something that a lot of people have experienced even within themselves... so it's difficult for them to see the perspective of where you are coming from which i think is fair. In a way i've also realized the part i should play in society - i experience the world like a tree experiences it's ecosystem. the Earth is more complex, more vast, more mysterious than we can understand and to be honest, it would be a big shock for everyone, even for me sometimes. what can i say... i'm humbled by the wonder of it all.

Hola, yo descubrí que era hiperfantasioso no solo con imágenes(con imágenes soy fantasioso) pero con los sonidos soy especialmente hiperfantasioso ya que puedo reproducir cualquier sonido que ocurra ni bien acaba,como por ejemplo el sonido de una bocina de carro, cuando mi padre y otra persona termina de hablar, el ladrido de mi perro, y música por supuesto, etc, aunque solo por un determinado tiempo.

I'm only now fully realizing it and admitting it the uniqueness of it. That said, I've always intuitively known, I think, but I've had to painfully suppress it throughout my youth due to others having little tolerance for it in their lives. Until recently, I guess I thought everyone could vividly imagine (and remember) across all their senses, including motor, place-based, real and fantasized, pleasing and traumatic. It wasn't until reading Temple Grandin's Visual Thinking that it occurred to me that other people had different levels of ability on a sense-by-sense basis. I took the assessments and discovered that I'm hyperphantasic across the entire spectrum of senses. It freaked me out, to be honest. It was a bit overwhelming. It was a revelation that brought a sense of relief but also grief and loss. After many years of wondering why others couldn't seem to see the world or imagine things as I do, all the self- and societal invalidation that accompanied that confusion suddenly had a simple explanation. I actually do see and imagine things differently than 99%+ percent of others. That, at least (ironically), wasn't in my imagination. I now have a partial answer for why I've been so successful in my field and struggled in relationships. I often feel clairvoyant in planning and predicting outcomes. My emotions feel blended with others and large groups. I get lost in my imagination as it's superimposed over our reality. If I'm not careful, others have difficulty relating to how I express my ideas (i.e., hyper-sensorially). A big, new question is, what do I do with this now that I understand it better? How do I begin advocating for my needs more effectively while also humbly considering diverse experiences in my work and relationships?

I am an lifelong artist, have a BFA in studio art but spent my career in graphic design (retired); I feel my strongest ability is being able to create realistic artwork from what I can see (but can draw to a lesser degree from my imagination if I concentrate). I have been reading about aphantasia/hyperphantasia and the lack of other senses; I am curious about smell especially as I have never been able to smell or at least acknowledge an odor! (I have had several medical tests that show nothing wrong.) I did fall off the side of steps onto a concrete floor as a toddler,  which knocked me out (but no other damage) … I have read that your sense of smell can be affected by injury? So I guess what I am questioning is whether my creativity could be due to missing my sense of smell… my other senses are fine (except my hearing at age 66!) and from what I hear, sometimes I’m grateful that I can’t smell!! :D  I started reading about these experiences in a Facebook post in an artist’s group about aphantasia, but I didn’t really understand whether they meant you could actually SEE an object (when you close your eyes) or if you are just “seeing it in your mind’s eye” (imagining, which is what I think I do.) Can you explain the difference? When I close my eyes I see gray/black but I can imagine things vaguely in my mind but if I concentrate on specific areas in the ‘image’ I will imagine/see details…? Thanks!

I knew from a pop biology test taken in high school that my visual memory was much stronger, both for objects and written words - my aural memory, by contrast, is well below average.  However, I had absolutely no idea that my visual imagination was any different - I found out when someone suggested that I submit my artwork for the first Extreme Imagination exhibition!  Even then, I felt like a fraud until I had a chat with Matthew McKisack (the curator of the exhibition) ...  I guess we just don't compare our inner visions, but just take them for granted.  I have paid a lot more attention to my inner visions since then,  and they seem to be getting even more vivid in response.