Your stims?

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I missed one off my previous list: moving saliva around my mouth.

Oh, and chattering my teeth.

The funny thing is that when I first started researching autism, I didn't think I stimmed. Well... then I became conscious of what it means and found that I have LOTS of stims! I am almost constantly in motion. I rock back and forth while standing on the phone at work and if I am seated, I bounce my leg. I also flap my wrists when I am thinking and sometimes when speaking. I also bite my nails and the skin around them, pick off any flaking skin and pick scabs all the time. I also pop pimples (gross...I know!) and pluck nose hairs. While I am talking about my nose, yep... it gets picked too (double gross!). Give me an office chair and I will spin in it like a toddler with a sit and spin. I also drum my fingers and stack my toes on top of each other. I also like to play with the Slinky I keep next to my bed and my IKEA wind up flashlight.

I'm still not totally sure about what exactly stimming is, but I do quite a few of the ones I've seen mentioned here. The one that sticks out to me most is the mouth/lip chewing/biting. I do that all the time, and I've never had any sort of explanation for it. just inside my lips and in the space inside my mouth between my lips and cheeks are all chewed up all the time. whenever my lips get chapped, or for any other reason I feel skin peeling off of my lips, I have to remove it. And I'll sorta "check" my teeth regularly with my tongue to make sure there's nothing stuck in them. I will also sometimes clean the plaque off of my teeth with a fingernail, and I can't stand having anything in my nose that I can feel. Also for some reason, when I'm at home and just relaxing, I often times find my hand playing with my genitals... like not for pleasure. I'm not masturbating, just touching, almost as though I'm examining it like it's something new, or just fidgeting. I have NO idea why I do this. I guess it's just a comfort/relaxation thing? I used to do it a lot as a kid, and my mom would always yell at me for it.

So from what I can tell, stimming is some sort of calming thing that you do in times of stress? When I do most of these things is completely random and has nothing to do with being stressed, so does that make them stims?

I finger-flick, or rub my fingers in circles on surfaces.

Clapping, rocking, hand flapping, jumping, running around if I'm excited, nail biting, and if I can't bite my nails any more, then cuticle biting, sniffing, especially sniffing hair, touching things, usually smooth/ soft surfaces, drumming fingers, foot shaking.
My stims are really bad when I'm not doing anything that demands much brainpower. When I'm eating dinner, then I'm thinking a lot, and since I use the internet before dinner for researching things, I'm even more excited and so I shake my foot relentlessly and usually really quickly, drum my fingers on the table, rock back and forth. Going to restaurants isn't fun, haha.
I also stroke my nose & jab a particular part of my palm with my nails.

One stim I absolutely hate is teeth clenching. I do it a lot but have sort of made myself clench just the front teeth rather than back, since clenching the back teeth hurts a bit.

contracting muscles, sometimes holding a specific position until fatigue sets in.
peeling/chewing skin off lips
rubbing eyebrows
drumming fingers on surfaces
repeatedly touching objects (cold, metallic objects or soft fur)
pencil twirling
biting my tongue
the "eternal potty dance;"slight side-to-side rocking and convulsion-like movements
making things go blurry (by doing this strange thing involving using muscles in my eyes)
looking through objects (those with openings or which distort the view)
moving my head to see the light move on an object
leg wiggling
rubbing eyes
standing with my back firmly against a wall
making my eyes dart around rapidly
having weight on my torso and sides (not sure if this is a stim, but it does provide sensory input and organizes my mind)
picking up things in an unusual manner (to feel the muscles and tendons/ligaments working)
Making a grunting noise (I don't notice when I do it, but everyone else around me does)

I bounce my knee constantly. In my school year book I was voted as "the one who always moves their knee in class". I've even got other people into the habbit. It's annoying when people tell me to stop doing it because I don't realise that I'm doing it and I can't stop it anyway so why mention it to me?

I do ''socially acceptable'' stims, that aren't considered unusual to NTs, like biting my nails. I know people have criticised or commented on it before, it is still commonly known so they don't consider me unusual by the habit I have got. Maybe if I turned around and said that I enjoy biting my nails they might think that's a little strange, because most people who do bite their nails are ashamed of it, where as, secretly, I don't mind having exceptionally short nails.

Also when I'm sitting with my legs crossed (I mean like how a lot of women sit), I put the foot that's on the floor on tiptoe then shake my legs, which is SO relaxing, but, believe it or not, I have actually seen other people do that in waiting-rooms.

I don't do unusual stims that are just common in Autistics, like hand flapping and rocking backwards and forwards or anything like that. Rocking backwards and forwards would make me feel nauseas, and flapping my hands will hurt my wrists. Even if I wanted to do it at home, I would NEVER do it out in public (although that's the first thing other Aspies ask when I complain about people staring at me....so annoying!)

I stim a lot at work. But fortunately, using mostly ruberbands lets me hide the fact from all but the most observant. I can always manipulate my rubberbands in my pocket if worst comes to worst..
In the past, I had to wait until I was alone..
My stim history:

Spinning in circles/pacing/running while flapping/shaking socks or strings. Throughout my childhood & teenage years ( I learned to hide it a bit as I got older)
Manipulating/caressing rubber bands while pacing/walking. (usually on "autopilot" at the time)
Same thing sitting and/or reading.
Using a stick to move dirt & gravel in patterns
Rocking on feet.
Bending & releasing book pages making rustling sounds
Doodling on paper.
Tapping/drumming pencils & pens
Pulling/pinching/biting clothes
Rocking chairs ( that are not meant to...)
Grinding teeth

This is a semi-comprehensive list of my stims throughout 5 decades so far.

Sincerely,
Matthew

PS. Actually missed a couple..

Picking scabs/moles & skin
Brushing & combing hair in set number patterns plus
collecting dander flakes from this

Matthew

Socially unacceptable:

-twirling/twisting a string in front of my face (nowadays only in private at home)
-talking to myself while doing tasks to organize myself/focus- repeating rhymes, phrases that I like to myself- talking to myself, singing loudly, humming, reading my novels out loud to myself to drown out noise in my house- I do this a little in public- to cover up a sound I don't like at work I talk to myself at my desk louder than I was before-but I'm trying to stop this- sometimes I'm conscious of this and can stop myself in public.
-skin picking- (public and private) and I really really want to stop this
-rocking gently- but only when really upset- is this normal when really upset?

Socially acceptable (in private and public):

- shaking my leg
- tearing/picking at paper wrappers or styrofoam cups, grass, whatever is in my hand or near me
- sometimes pacing