People most commonly associate twins with the idea of ‘twin telepathy.’ I hate to burst your extremely imaginative and generous bubble, but twin telepathy is a myth. Sadly, being a twin is much more boring than you think.

To a certain extent, you are able to ‘read’ your other half’s mind, but it’s not because you can actually hear their thoughts. Unfortunately, it’s for a reason much more mundane. When you spend long periods of time with a certain person, you are able to pick up on their social cues.

For example, if two people have been best friends for over 10 years, it’s expected that the one would be able to pick up on when the other is feeling a certain way. If they are nervous, excited, or sad, they probably have a tell that you’ve picked up on from your time of being around them. It is the same exact thing for twins.

My twin sister and I have been friends for 20 years. Unlike many sisters who share a room during their formative years, twins have shared the same spaces since the beginning. My sister and I jokingly call ourselves womb-mates.

We have literally been by each other sides for every moment of our existence. It is not hard to guess, then, that we know each other very well.

I suffer from generalised anxiety and panic disorder. When I am anxious, my sister can pick up on it almost immediately. My eyes begin to look in every direction and I always watch my hands to see if they are shaking.

These are physical signs that, one who has spent enough time around me, would be able to link to my panic attacks.

I am a firm believer that the relationship between twins is something special. It’s different than that of other siblings because you have this shared experience together that they, unfortunately for them, cannot claim to have had with their sibling: sharing a placenta for 9 months.

An article by Insider titled 12 things that only twins will know to be true, summarises what I’m trying to get across really well when they say, “Some twins claim that they really can read each other’s minds, but far more often, you’ll find a twin who has at least experienced “twintuition.”

If being able to tell when my sister is having a bad day is “twintuition,” then yes, I have experienced this. But I’ve also experienced a similar intuition with my closest friends.

Live Science, in an article titled The Riddle of Twin Telepathy, stated, “As intriguing as the idea is, there is no credible scientific evidence that psychic powers exist, either in the general population or among twins specifically.”

I would be the first person willing to admit that they possessed supernatural powers; however, I am not a liar, which is why until it is scientifically proven that twins have mind reading abilities, we remain as normal as everyone else.

Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

 

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