Welcome to the club. My good buddy with hyper phantasia and I, for years, have compared our visualization capabilities (he always 'sees' vivid, animated or whatever pictures in his mind) and I see none. Many friends/articles talk about remembering names by visualizing something about them... not going to happen with me. But, otherwise it is interesting how I can pseudo visualize i.e., no pictures but somehow just know to take a step by step approach to tasks that others say they visualize first.

You are ahead of me. I was 55 before I figured it out. I agree, my family and friends don't really get it. Feel free to rant.

I have similar experience, although assessment showed me that I am phantasic.Funny enough, I can vaguely visualize things, well except the part whereas the details are but flat and dim. Whenever I put my attention on any other part of the details the other part start to disappear.Sometimes if I want to visualize something I can't do it directly, but I have to do it part by part and assembling it afterward.And visualization? Well, people told me the same exactly thing “it's either you are pretending or you haven't tried it hard enough”...The worst part is I can't remember people's faces, bad sense of direction. Sounds like Aphantasia right?So I probably somehow understand how it feels like. And not every non-aphantasia can all visualize 100% clear visual (well just ignore those lucky few, they are superpower, and we are but ordinary men could only live with that)