Thinking in pictures

I think in pictures.  By this I mean everything that goes through my head, whether it is an imagination, the past, the present, or the future, they all go through my mind as pictures or vivid movie clips.  I can fast forward, rewind, pause at any point, or hop from one scene to another.  I can do it quickly, efficiently, and naturally. 

I thought thinking in pictures was the norm.  No one ever told me otherwise until I met my husband, T.

As a visual thinker, I often have difficulty with verbal expression.  To verbalize what I see is a daunting task.  The overwhelming amount of details that I have to describe....just the thought of it tires me.  So most of the time, I would either give a very generic answer, or simply keep quiet, thus end up looking either uninterested or confused.  

A question as common as "How was work today?" can trigger clips of events at work to literally shoot through my mind like freight trains.  The amount of energy and emotion from the day, getting dumped on me at light speed is often enough to mute me.  Once the pandemonium takes over, I am no longer able to determine which frame to catch as a starting point to describe my day. 

Proper social etiquette tells me if someone asks me a question, an answer is expected.  The conflict of my inner desire to stay silent versus the social pressure to respond, along with the massive amount of visuals rushing through my head, stuttering in frustration is often the best I can do.

Emotions, to me, are felt as colors and temperatures.  Anger feels like a hot red pressure cooker with fume leaking out, happiness is a field of colorful flowers swaying in a cool spring breeze on a bright sunny day, and sadness is like being trapped in a cool bare dark cave.

I can see in layers as well.  When I am put in a spot to make important decisions.  The array of options radiates out of me like spokes of a tire.  Each leads to a destination with consequences.  I can see the paths and feel the consequences all within a matter of seconds.  Sometimes it happens so fast that I have to do a rewind just to make sure, kind of like when my email account asks me, "Are you sure you want to delete this message?" 

I did not realize that most people, including T, who is a very creative person, don't do what I do until he pointed it out to me.  From T's past experience as a kitchen designer, he assured me that most people could barely see in 2-D, much less think in pictures.  He told me the way I visualized information, and the speed I could do it at, was very rare and unique.

Well, rare or not, I don't really care, the practical question is....so is it a blessing or a curse?