Stereotypy and nonsense movements you do

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One thing I've heard about autism is that we tend to do stereotypy and nonsense movements that NTs feel are odd, and yes I have alot of nonsensical movements I do, I don't do alot of the typical stereotypy nonsense movements though, unless you consider head-banging to heavy metal as "stereotypy", which I don't think that would be considered stereotypy since everyone else does it as well.

"Non-sense" Movements:

Pacing (This annoys my mother)
Random stretches (This strikes my friends as odd)
Random exercises (Again this strikes my friends as odd)
Pulling on my skin (around my neck is one place I generally do it, I do it elsewhere though as well, this bothers people)
Rubbing my chin
Finger-tapping
Others that I can't think of right now

I can be rather random to people, I have trouble staying absolutely still, I have to move atleast slightly.

I can't sit still either...when I'm at a restaurant I have to be playing with a napkin or a straw wrapper. (any kind of paper) I'll rip it up and fold it, all kinds of stuff. I pace when I'm doing certain things, like talking on the phone especially. If I'm talking to someone in person, I'll stay in place, but I'll still move my feet a lot. Usually following patterns on the floor with my feet. I'm not even mentioning the hand flapping because that's too hard to explain.

I have several...I would pace holes in the floor it it weren't so sturdy...In lieu of listing them all...I will mention the one where everytime someone orders beer I have to snap my fingers for the number of beers they ordered..

when I'm thinking, I find myself doing the following sorts of things.
shrugging with random body twists.
face-tapping.
finger-tapping.

when I'm talking, I like to clean or shred. if I'm home, I'll wipe counters or arrange things while I talk.
when I'm out, I'll fold and/or shred napkins and straw wrappers or arrange things on the table, including mopping up any water that drips on the table.

when I use sugar packets, all but one have to be painstakingly and neatly folded at the end of the meal and the folded ones placed in the unfolded one.

my strangest one, according to other people, was the one I did at my tech support job. I would shred wooden stir sticks into small pieces in a pile on my desk while I talked on the phone. it looked like miniature pet bedding. I'd add it to my bug house that I kept plastic lizards in on my desk. they were my work pets.

The one I do unconsciously all the time is press my lips together. I didn't use to do it but once I had very chapped lips and had some balm on them and when I pressed them together I felt very satisfying little pops. That was years ago and I'm still going through the motions. It's like a switch that never got turned off. I use to be a shredder but not so much anymore. I'm also a bad one for the personal maintenance in public. Once at a family wedding I told my son to stop picking his nose and he just held up his other hand to shield it. I told him that wasn't good enough and he crawled under a chair and went at it again.

rocking from side to side
swinging my arms forward and backward
pacing

Yes, to all of those. I have trouble staying still also....I also pick at anything (anytime i get a sore or scratch it takes forever to heal because I can't leave it alone), I randomly shake my hands....(I just think of it as releasing tension)

I'm not sure what other people mean when they talk about "flapping"....that makes me think of arms stretched out to your sides and flapping up & down like a bird? I don't do that but if I'm frustrated at something then I'll flap my hands/forearms up & down, in front of me....kind of like I'm throwing a tantrum....

That's flapping.
It's kind of like you're waving or swotting a fly.

I shake my leg a lot. Sometimes both at the same time.
I sway from side to side.
I flap rarely but it's usually when under stress.
I finger tap, which doesn't look that weird because it looks like I have a beat in my head.
I click my teeth with my tongue. Sometimes I just touch my teeth way too much.
Also, when nervous I mess up the back of my hair.
I headbang when really frustrated.

I have a few (possibly) stupid questions, so please forgive my ignorance. I'm still new to AS and am going through the diagnosis process, and this is something I haven't really been able to find a clear answer on. Is there a difference between stereotypy and stimming? If so, what is the difference? Are they just different labels for the same thing?

huh....guess I took the word "flapping" too literally (which is kind of ironic)

so when you talk about headbanging does that actually mean banging your head against something or is it some kind of head motion? or could it mean hitting your head?

Usually hitting my head on a wall.

I believe they are the same thing, they're deemed "non-sensical" or "purposeless" by NTs mainly because they don't understand why we're doing it.

Stims are stereotypies, but not all stereotypies are stims.

well does anyone have a chronic issue with picking the skin off of their lips and picking their nose and wiggling their fingers ...I would go no but it is slightly humiliating...it is difficult to tell I have as except those things which usually goes on at hme and staring at my hands especially in the light.

I used to pick at my lip, cause it does peel. But I don't do that much anymore. I want it to heal faster so I leave it alone. Yeah I sometimes pick my nose. Sometimes I find it hard to breathe out of it if it's too full.

i do the handflapping thing. someone saw me do it and thought i had arthritis because they had it too.