Mindless tasks

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I'm not sure if I have AS or not, but this is something I've done since I was a small child, and no one could understand why, so I'm wondering about it. I doodled on everything, even furniture and sometimes the wallpaper (my parents made me refarnish my desk once or twice, I remember). It wasn't artistic, or interesting, or anything like that, and I would usually do it without even realizing it, and the doodles were all pretty much identical after a while. It just always seemed to me that there was some hyperactive part of my mind that had to be entertained 24/7, or I couldn't pay attention to anything, and moving my hands the same way over and over would occupy that part for the time being and I could listen to someone and digest what they were saying to me. I would do this during class, or when talking to my parents and everyone always assumed it meant I was ignoring them, but I don't think I'd have been able to do as well without it.

Nowadays I don't doodle as much, but I've found a variety of mindless, repetitive things to do on the computer like resorting large amounts of random data by hand, and the like, and it's become something I do when I feel upset or just need to wind down a bit. Is this an AS thing? Do other people do this?

I have done it. I still have urgers to doodle.

Glad I'm not the only one... but, anyone else?

i pick on my nail cuticles mindlessly, sometimes to a point where it bleeds but not gushing bleed just till it's raw

Hahaha, wow. I don't know if it's an AS thing, but I definitely drew on a lot of things. From my desk, to tables, to books, floors, walls, even my video game consoles :O

i painted my hands and goet around house u could clearly see where i goed..after that all paints were moved behind locks and i was placed in timeout leash

I don't tend to doodle (although I used to doodle all over my homework in second grade; it drove my teacher crazy), but I do have that same restless part of my brain.

When I was young, I had a weird habit of putting my hands in front of my face and moving them beneath my nose. It gave some the impression that I was smelling my fingertips.

my leg shakes. it's not a nervous habit, or stress, it's a comfort thing. And I'm always moving my fingers.