Stimming, What's YOUR goofy habit?

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Sometimes will just jump. or look to the left. Not even thinking about it.

I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet, tilt my head from side to side or nod my head, click my fingernails against eachother (they're rather long), or rub my feet together.

I find all of these movements to be quite relaxing, and I've noticed I do them most often when stressed or simply tired. Most of the time I only realize I've been doing it a few minutes into the motion, usually because a coworker/friend is giving me an odd look.

When I'm extremely stressed out or feeling overloaded, I pull on my hair. The pain is, again, very soothing, and if I do it for too long I can fall into a sort of staring trance quite easily.

Until literally right this moment, I thought I was the only one who did this.

I was doing this while reading your post...

<joke>
STOP HACKING INTO MY WEBCAM!! !
</joke>

I like touching my lower belly. It's soft and nice and relieves stress. I think it came from the days when I was underweight, it was the only fat I had and the only part of my body that felt soft. I really like fat on people and love to give chubby people hugs. But I never want to touch any part of a skinny person.

I rock- forwards, side to side, round in circles. Mostly my whole body, sometimes just my neck up.
I play my fingers like a piano.
Lately I've been doing this thing with my hand that looks like I'm squeezing a stress ball over and over, but there's nothing there- Like I'm clapping with one hand.

"It's just a jump to the left,
And then a step to the ri i i i ght!

Put your hands on your hips,
and bring your knees in ti i i i ght!"

First thing that came to mind when I read this. Must be showing my age. Sorry.

I fidget a lot. If I look around a crowded classroom or lecture hall, I'm the one who can't stay in their seat quite proper. I especially have trouble holding still when I'm supposed to. And, when I do curb my urges to move around, I often feel like going to bed.

I love to put things in my mouth and chewing on stuff. I love sunflower seeds, for example. I can literally sit there eating them for hours.

I love rocking chairs. They make me happy. Same with moving my legs.

I love to put things between my fingers and feel the texture. I do this with hair or other small particles, usually. Eyebrows are fun to do this with, though I admit it looks a bit silly.

There are a few other less-endearing ones, but I don't feel the need to detail everything out. xD

I guess I'll contribute, but I don't know if any of these would be considering stimming....

* ALWAYS drumming my fingers on something. Usually I'll miss an entire conversation because I was so focused on what beat I was drumming to. Lately its been to Slipknots "Pulse of the Maggots"....

* I'm constantly biting at the insides of my mouth. I end up twisting my mouth into weird angles, which probably makes me look like a fool most of the time *shrugs*

* If I'm sitting, usually one of my legs is bopping up and down a million times per second OR both feet are drumming rapidly as if I was playing the drums.

* And lets not forget: Teeth Drumming Its hard to explain...but yeah.

Despite all these drumming things.....I don't play the drums. I'm a guitarist/bassist

When I'm really excited I kick my right leg and it makes my whole body spazz out. I'm trying to stop that cos it's kind of embarrasing.

I press on my eyes all the time! I love the feeling of it and the colors that different pressure makes is like a light show!

When I'm by myself in a crowd and really anxious I'll hum a really low note. Not loudly, only so I can hear it. Probably so it will distract my nervousness.

I'm always moving. I either have something in my hands or am fidgeting with my hands. But I will never sit still. I always look nervous... I don't know if that counts or not.

That's such a silly movie. I've seen it so many times! I'm only 19.

Well I am by no means an expert just a user (lol), but I believe that stimming would be more of an embarrassing oddity that would make you stand out to most NTs. I mean, everyone does these types of habits to relax themselves. I guess it would be to what degree you do said habit. Like, when i fiddle my toes, I actually rub them raw after a while. It's a habit I do even when it hurts me. I mean, I've dated NT girls who had weird habits like hair twirling and nail biting, etc, but you have to imagine a sort of "Rain Man" degree of the habit. Like the best example would be rocking the body to think or relax. It can also be a way to release excitement or eagerness. Like, when I'm having a good day and I'm excited about doing an activity, I will randomly spaz out and clap or thump stuff. Like, imagine a dog scratching himself. It's more instinctual in my opinion. You can normally feel when what you did was very odd by how people respond to you. Like, when I write/draw I put my head on the desk and watch the tip of the pencil/pen with my mouth open. I am actually a pretty charming guy when I'm trying, but when I'm concentrated on something I indeed look like rain man from a distance, lol. I mean, the AS is all about doing NT habits on a larger scale in my opinion. Most NTs I talk to about this stuff will say things like "I totally do stuff like that!" or "Me too!!", but it's to what degree you feel the alienation in your environment. Growing up, I was very awkward and did things to relax myself and felt soooo much resistance and mockery from people around me. It's that lonely feeling that makes the difference whether not it's outside the realm of the NTs comprehension. If they felt the same loneliness, they would have gotten tested for learning disabilities in college like I did because even after making it to a university I felt different still. These differences have been so apparent and effective on my life that I don't just look past them. That is the difference between the habits of a NT and a person on the AS. Like little habits like chewing nails and picking your nose are normal enough for a person not to feel like they are the only person that does it. If everyone notices in this forum people on the AS are shocked to finally meet someone who does that same habit.

To sum that up on this next line since some of you may just skip that paragraph, lol: I believe that stimming is a way for a person on the AS to relax/think clearly. I think our brains need more maintenance to run, so we have to relieve stress in spastic motions to distract ourselves from how much the gears in our brains are turning.

P.S. Thanks for all the replies guys. I hope you guys are having fun looking at the small things that make us interesting. KEEP 'EM COMING!

i do this

i flap my ears and retract my uvula. i rhythmically tense and relax my gluteal muscles and thigh muscles, usually in time to music or the music in my head. i also stretch my neck in all directions to relieve muscle tension there, and i arch my back to relieve strain there as well.

- When I'm very excited or having a meltdown, I flap my hands a lot. It helps to calm me down, seems as if nothing else can replace it. I tend to jump when I'm excited as well.

- I can rock back back and forth and from side to side quite a lot, even in the classroom during the lesson etc. I don't notice it myself until someone else points it out.

- I pace when I'm nervous or anxious. Usually when I'm anxious in public, I start walking in circles. I pace when I'm completely alone, but then I feel great and pace because it feels natural to me. I can do it for hours, and that's the time when I daydream intensively.

I don't have much other smaller habits I guess. I also noticed that I can't sit still on a chair when there's too many sounds at once around me (for example, in the kitchen.. sound of everyone talking and their changing frequencies, sound of the refrigerator and other electronics, boiling water, forks touching the plate..). It's very hard to explain what I'm going through at that time, but I start moving on the chair and even pressing myself against the chair, twisting my feet around the chair legs, looking in all possible directions.

I also cover my eyes quite frequently, because I like the feeling when I press my eyes and feel my fingers on the eyelids.

I do that as well. Now that I'm aware of it, I try to not do it in the public. I like the feel of eyebrow hair between my fingers, and I also pull the eyebrow hairs upwards



I'm not sure if I do say something when I daydream.. I have noticed it only maybe once or twice when I was younger, but I'm aware that I can react with lots of gestures and everything I daydream about reflects in my facial expressions, I can do some silly things with my nose, mouth or eyes

I giggle randomly and when I'm super happy I have this urge to jump or jump over things. When I'm super nervous, I rock a little bit. People look at me strangely

My worst is pulling stubble out of my chin and neck with my fingers. I wish I would stop because I have a calloused dent in my finger from my thumbnail and I end up with bald patches on my face if I don't shave. I can't explain how it makes me feel or how it helps me, but I have an overwhelming urge to do it. I will do it without thinking, but then when I catch myself doing it, I don't want to stop.