Do NTs have an equivalent to this feeling?

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I'm just wondering if NTs have an equivalent for the feeling an autistic person gets when they engage in a (not harmful) repetitive behaviour.

I'm not talking just about stimming. For example, I listen to songs repetitively. Over the past few years there have been two songs that I fixate on: Perfect, by Hedley, and Nobody's Side from the musical Chess. All I have to do is put on one of these songs on repeat, and it helps calm me down. It's like near instant relief from an impending panic attack or overload.

I get the same sort of feeling sometimes when immersing myself in an interest, but the feeling I get when I put on one of those two songs is stronger.

Just wondering if NTs had an equivalent, so I can explain it and help them understand.

Why you think they use different types of music, to tell different situations, in a film or game, etc. Same with battle drums, in war or a touching speech to fire you up & one says "come on lets have them", other says "ye too eager to kill, rather than thinking about tactics".

While you get people with popcorn throwing, when they jump out of shock. Then you got guys who don't want to show they emotions in public, don't see the big deal or laugh.

Like playing football or going shopping or playing a computer game or maths equation or insert anything else. What ever rocks your boat.

Yep, I like to examine my hair and trim the spit-ends with nail scissors. I know it doesn't really have anything to do with my hair (I go to the hairdresser pretty regularly), I have found this soothing since I was in my teens. I have two small children who take up most of my time so I can only do it in the evening while I am watching tv but I like it. My husband doesn't get it, he is always wanting to put the nail scissors back in the cupboard but I tell him not to bother because I will be using them tomorrow.

I'm not sure, but all of the NT people in my life have always found my listening to the same song over and over for hours or watching the same film over and over again very odd. It usually makes them crazy...my mom actually banned me from certain songs and movies from time to time growing up, because she couldn't stand the repetition. For me, though, it was calming.

Oddly enough, though, I can't tolerate quick repetition or repetition of short sounds...like, someone saying the same word over and over, or sounds like a ticking clock. Stuff like that enrages me.

I will listen to the same song on repeat for an hour if I'm not careful. And I'll sometimes watch the same segment of a YouTube video over and over again. (I'm undiagnosed, but I suspect I have AS.)

Look I will give a example, maths:-

Frustrate = sucks at maths, needs breaking down to basics, does not have the patients to work it out.
Bored = does not care about maths, rather be doing something else.
Calm/happy = solve a maths equation or doing maths.

Really likes maths = will do it all day, or long time, or a lot.
Really hates maths = will do anything to get out of it.

Replace maths with anything, that you like.

It's simple things in life for me really.
Hugs can instantly make me feel better. Nice smells, looking at something pretty or listening to a nice song

I don't know but I know I've listened to the same playlist on my ipod everyday for nearly two years straight now. I wouldn't be surprised if others were to find that odd. Doing it does sort of feel like an anchor. Something I can expect after going through yet another unpredictable day. It kind of maintains a sense of normalcy, if that makes any sense.

It seems to me that NTs do stim for anxiety reasons but maybe aren't aware of what they're doing because it's not so pronounced. And anxious NTs do it more than NTs who aren't anxious. And the things NTs do are more socially acceptable, for example, twiddling with their hair, tapping their foot. It just seems more pronounced, more frequent and more variable stimming activities for autistic people.

I have certain music that I will repeat over and over to calm me or induce a certain mood. I'll bite my lip, and I'll rub my fingernails repeatedly over my lips. I also used to have a suede jacket and I'd repeatedly stroke it when I wore it and found myself unable to stop it sometimes. It was calming, except when I became aware others were noticing me doing it and I found it hard to stop sometimes.

I'll listen to a single song on repeat for hours (and I mean hours ... 6 or 8 hours in a row sometimes). And then the next day I'll do the same with the same song. And for the week or month ... and ... well, until another song makes it's way and it all starts again. I don't know why I do it - I think I just like the familiarity of it, and yes, it calms me down. Like an earlier poster, I've had pretty much the same small playlist on my iPod/iPhone for several years ... occasionally a new song gets added.

Most people I know in real life think this is decidedly odd. So I'm sure that while folk not on the spectrum might like to repeat a favourite song a few times, or dance to repetitive beats or use music to make them feel something I don't think it's the same.

I find NT behavior to be very repetitive. Like someone else said, they dance to a repetitive beat. They constantly absorb themselves in the same old stuff: Celebrity drama/affairs.

Seems pretty ritualistic to me - which isn't a negative thing; just their way of doing things repetitively.

EDIT: and it's also their way of coping with the world, I suppose!

Of course they can be repetitive but not in the way that we are. Ours is often intense and is very noticeable. I've listened to the same playlist for about 6 hours now. It's the same playlist that I listen to when I write.

NT's can have repetitive behaviours but they are also versatile. They don't have to do those things in order to cope or function. They just do them because they like them and more than likely because some magazine or TV show told them to do it, and everyone is doing it. Not saying all NT's are like that but I just have to look at my Facebook Newsfeed to know that a lot are.

A lot of them drink to be calm. A lot of them group together and go to clubs, concerts, movies, etc to cope. In times of great stress they might do something to calm down, like eating, fishing, painting, grouping together and talking about how much that person sucks that made them feel this way, etc. But I don't think it's as common as ours. By that I mean we deal with more sensory stress, social confusion, executive function problems, anxiety, depression and other co-morbids. Sure they can get it too but for a different reason.

To be honest though I don't know a lot of NT's and don't know them well enough to know what they do when nervous/anxious/stressed. There could be some repetitive activity. Would be interesting to find out.