The first time I asked my colleagues how they visualised the months of the year, they looked at me as if I asked the impossible.
"What do you mean 'where' January is? It's just... January," one of my colleagues said.
Eventually, when I explained that I envisioned a 4×3 grid, like a wall calendar with quarters neatly arranged in rows, more got what I meant.
The responses were fascinating. Some people see perfect circles, with December flowing into January.
Hugo described something entirely different—a film roll stretching infinitely, each month tinted its own distinct color. Another colleague assigned unique symbols to each month, while someone else saw himself literally standing on his calendar, experiencing it from within.
None of us had ever considered that our personal geography of time wasn't shared by everyone else.
What on Earth Is Calendar Synesthesia?
Calendar synesthesia (officially called time-space synesthesia) is when your brain automatically maps time onto spatial locations. It's not metaphorical—you literally perceive months, years, or days of the week as occupying specific positions in the space around or in front of you.
It's a form of synesthesia, a neurological trait where one sense triggers another. Like tasting colors or hearing shapes, except this is about seeing time.
About 2-4% of people have it. Most don't realize it's unusual until that awkward moment when they say something like, "Wednesday is always slightly to the left," and receive blank stares in return.
The condition often flies under the radar because, unlike seeing purple numbers or tasting the sound of violins, calendar synesthesia feels so logical to those who have it that they assume everyone experiences time this way. It's like discovering that not everyone has an internal monologue, or that some people can't picture a red apple in their mind—a moment of mutual bewilderment from both sides.
The variety of calendar forms is endlessly fascinating:
- Grids: Like my 4×3 matrix where January, February, and March huddle in the top row and summer stretches across the middle. - This is how I see it!
- Circles: Many people see the year as a loop or oval, with seasons flowing continuously. Also something that someone said: " April feels closer to July to me than the distance between January and April - even though they’re both 3 months apart".
- Lines: Straight, curved, or zigzagging paths where months march in sequence. Some are horizontal, others vertical, and some seem to float in mid-air.
- Complex Shapes: Figure-8s, spirals, and even 3D forms that twist through imaginary space. One researcher documented someone who sees the year as a ramp spiraling up a mountain.
What's remarkable is how consistent these shapes remain throughout life. My January has been in the top-left corner since childhood.
Neuroscientists have confirmed this isn't just vivid imagination. When people with calendar synesthesia think about time periods, brain scans show activity in regions associated with spatial processing.
It appears to involve extra connections between brain areas that process time concepts and those handling spatial information. There's also a genetic component—it often runs in families, though not everyone realizes they share it.
Unlike some medical conditions named after stern Victorian doctors, synesthesia isn't something that needs fixing. It's simply a different way of perceiving.
What fascinates me most about calendar synesthesia is how it reveals how different we all think. Two people can agree completely on what day it is while disagreeing entirely about where it is. The brain is a very magical thing.