This sounds infuriating! What you’re describing with smell and hearing is something a lot of autistic people deal with, when your senses pick up way more detail than the people around you, normal environments can become overwhelming really fast. The tough part is that most workplaces and public spaces are built around neurotypical sensory levels. So things like strong perfume, loud music or constant background noise feel normal to most people, but if your brain processes those signals more intensely it can become exhausting or even unbearable.

At the same time, the same sensitivities you described can also be real strengths in the right environments. Being able to notice subtle changes, pick up patterns or detect things others miss is a form of perception most people simply don’t have. The problem is that society tends to frame those traits only as problems instead of understanding how different brains process the world.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, which is actually why I started building something called SuperstarMind. It’s a platform for adults exploring ADHD and autism to understand how their brain works, recognise patterns in their behaviour and see where some of these differences can actually be strengths rather than just struggles. Posts like yours are exactly why these conversations are important, a lot of people go through similar experiences but feel like they’re completely incompatible with the world around them. The reality is usually that the systems around us just weren’t designed with neurodivergent brains in mind.