@markhughes
Joined over 4 years agoI was born in 1962, I am a former university Reader in Organizational Change. When working I enjoyed excessive reading and writing, my world was largely conceptual. Post work I enjoy gardening and more generally the natural world. I can imagine and plan gardening projects using words and concepts, it works, but I miss the visual element. I completely accept having aphantasia, but given the choice I'd prefer not to have it.
Thank you Shaf for sharing your experience. My own experience was similar in losing my visual imagination over time. There was an informative video talk by Professor Zeman (Exeter University) hosted by this site last year. He contrasted Aphantasia with Hyperphantasia. I was initially only interested in the Aphantasia, but then it reminded me that my visual imagination was very strong in childhood. I even had imaginary childhood friends which to me were real. Since those days it has been a gradual decline. The shift along a spectrum from one extreme to another is interesting and hopefully will be researched more as we learn about these experiences. Importantly my imagination has remained strong throughout. I miss the visual aspect of imagination, but there are bigger challenges out there. I am oddly grateful that they came up with a 'label' which allowed me to appreciate I am not alone.