Touching Things As One Walks.

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Question. Is the touching things as one walks a stim?

I don't have to do it but I just do it. I will rub my hand on (Run my fingers along) something as I pass like a hedge or something or a wall or a fence etc as I walk past. Usually a wall. Now I noticed through life that not many people do that. Only a few small kiddies, yet I am an adult. Is it a stim? Is it a trait? Or is it just me being me?

Hello, Mountain Goat.

I am sensation seeking so do that a lot. Touching leaves, grass, buildings ---I would do it more if I could "get away" with it (socially and in time). As a teenager I took crayons and paper and made rubbings of all sorts of textures, so I could see them too.

This expression was always funny to me "take time to smell the roses". People don't? I get it, I get it. In my case, it's my natural state and I have to hold myself back. Maybe I'll do less holding back...

I do that sometimes. For me it's kind of a stim.

It is odd when one gets looked at by people who think you are wierd, but they really want to do it too but don't want to look wierd! Haha! (Or that is what my brain tells me at the time).

I’m not sure if it’s a stim but I definitely do it!

I used to run my fingers along fences when I was about 11-12 on my way home from school. I don't do it now as I worry I might look weird.

Wierdly it somehow calms me as it diverts my mind to what I am touching which gives me pleasure (Unless I accidently get a thorn or a splinter!)

I don't know if you'd call it a stim. I think it's something to do with proprioception. Sort of anchoring yourself in a space. Some people don't get enough sensory feedback to have a good idea of where there are in a space. So they touch things more (and harder) than others because they're searching for that information.

I don't know if touching things while I walk is related to proprioception, since I do it solely to feel the texture of things. Though I used to purposely slightly bump against walls when I walked as a kid, which I've heard is related to issues with balance/proprioception. Teachers used to tell me to stop doing both the touching and the bumping things, so I don't do the latter anymore now that I'm older and I only touch things when I'm alone.

I used to touch and bump things lot as a kid and still do occasionally. My AS son does this too. I wouldn't call it a stim---more an automatic, unconscious, compulsive curiosity about texture and mass.

I do this too, I didn't realize how other people do not do it till my husband pointed it out to me. At my work there are these metal walls with a neat texture and most days I will (if no one is looking) run my fingers along it as I walk past. I guess most adults don't do this lol.

Yes I do this fairly often. I don't know what I call it, just an impulse sometimes usually to just see what something feels like. I have had a couple of splinters in the past from fences and damn power poles. If It feels good do it

I touch things as I walk. I'm not sure if it's a stim for me, but I can be a bit of a sensory seeker, and some things are just too touchable to just leave alone. So I don't.

flea.. that's exactly what I was trying to say.. haha!

I didn't know that was weird lol...I do that a lot. Idk I never really think about it, but idk maybe sometimes the texture of something seems pleasant so I want to feel it and see if it is I guess.

But I mean I'd also probably also stop to watch bugs if they were doing something interesting, as I am kind of a bug nerd. It's good though because my bug nerd tendencies stopped me from killing a mud-dauber, it is just a wasp that innocently builds a mud death trap to stuff paralized spiders into and lays an egg on top and the larvae eats the live spiders before becoming a full grown mud dauber itself. They are pollinators though as the adults only consume nectar. and well if you have arachnophobia they may be your friends since they specifically kill spiders or rather paralize them and feed them to their young so killing by proxy but still.

But yeah back to the topic, I do like to feel things when I am walking...like if I see a big tree growing I do usually want to go get closer to it and touch its bark, but yeah never really thought about if it was normal or not. That said since I do like to kinda touch plants and things I have not seen a lot...I am glad there were warnings around the poison ivy growing at a place me and my boyfriend hiked. I might have touched that plant if not for that and had to learn the hard way...but yeah there were signs to point out a poison ivy grove specifically saying not to touch it so that was helpful for sure.

I do this quite a lot, i love leaves and plants, feels good and i think it calms me and keeps me in the moment not focusing on people and on negative anxiety triggers. Sort of relaxes the tension