- Feb 26, 2017
- 3 min read

The Pros & Cons of Anosmia {lack of smell}

You know how we all have those quirky things about us? Mine is that I can’t smell.

Ever since I was little, scent has never bothered me. I figured it was because I’d never experienced anything too potent enough to offend me. But the older I got, the more I realized I didn’t know any scents. You could stick a toilet brush under my nose and I’d grin, saying, “Smells great!” because I cannot smell – at all.

After doing research about exactly what could cause my anosmia {the lack of sense of smell} I’ve come to two conclusions about what it could be.

Despite the sense of smell being early developed in a fetus, the eight weeks I was born prematurely clearly were defining weeks in developing my nose.
Someone stuck something up my nose before my cognitive memory came about and it feels so natural I have no clue, similar to 30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan.

No matter what the problem is, I have survived nearly 22 years on this planet without being able to tell the difference between a rose and garbage truck and I thought I would share the pros and cons of only have four senses.

What It’s Really Like to Have Anosmia

Pros

I have never had to leave the room where there’s been an atrocious scent.
I’m going to be an amazing mother because their vomit and poop won’t smell.
B.O. doesn’t bother me (unless it is so bad I can taste it – which has happened).
Boys love me because if their farts are silent, I don’t know.
I can light several candles at once without dying from the mixture of heavy scent.
If your flowers are pretty but smell awful, I will love them nonetheless.
I will never comment on your bad breath.
My old apartment always smelled of weed and I was the only one not constantly bothered by it.
An abundance of different bath salts is foamy and wonderful, not an assault on my nose.

Cons {yes, these are pretty horrible}

I will die in a horrible gas explosion because I will not be able to smell the gas. This is top of the reasons I need a roommate.
I will never know what different flowers smell like.
I need to have someone with me whenever I buy perfume. And because I finally found a scent that 90% of people like, I will buy it forever.
I constantly worry that either I have B.O. or my breath stinks because I can’t check.
I do not know if the flowers in my house smell nice.
I have made my mother and brother {on separate occasions} smell every candle in the aisle because I wanted to make sure I got the perfect candle.
I can’t tell if food has gone bad unless it physically looks it or tastes horrible. That’s ended bad several times.
I wear too much perfume on days, and no one tells me until I hear it two weeks later.
I had no clue my old makeup smelled like dead mothballs. I dated a guy for two months wearing it and it wasn’t until we broke up that I found out from a friend.
I will never be able to definitively know if boys smell good or bad.
I have had to lie for almost 22 years whenever someone says, “Doesn’t this smell amazing?” in order to avoid having to explain my anosmia.
I have been told my hand lotion smells horrible. I then had to change hand lotions.
I mentally check out of all conversations about smell. If you didn’t know, people talk about scent a lot.
I cannot appreciate new car smell and that’s perturbing to me.

Want to stay up to date with all of my crazy shenanigans, what movies I’m watching, and how to live the best life ever? Add me on Snapchat: PotatoesHegarty

Stay classy, Internet,