Voluntary Stimming: Is There Such a Thing?

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Can people stim like rock back and forth or clench their hands simply because one's nerves are on edge and they are blowing off a little steam or they just want to feel more relaxed?

In retrospect, I guess what I am doing MUST be stimming. I don't START it voluntarily, but I can stop it, etc...

All my stimming is voluntary... I never crave it so bad I just have to do it right then; I stim with other socially acceptable stuff and when I have a moment and feel like it, I stim. It's like needing to masturbate.

Don't start it; cannot stop it.

I didn't even know I was doing it for 20 or so years. If I stand I start to innately sway from side to side (pretty much always); my hands curl up and flap without conscious thought placed to it when I'm emotionally upset.

I guess it wasn't noticed by most people as I...look "good" and "normal" physically (which is common with autism, but you know).

I didn't even notice my rocking tendencies until I got diagnosed with AS. I guess I was used to the looking at the world through a moving lens.

so i'm not sure if this is stimming or not, but i always rock back and forth when i'm listening or trying to memorize something or if i'm reading. and even when i'm just sitting in general. and i always flap my pinky finger when i'm nervous... i do stuff like this all the time.

is this what you're talking about?

yup

I just notice I am doing it, I have learned to re direct it, or stop it if necessary. But I love to do the middle distace stare. And the thigh jiggle. and the motorboat sound with my mouth.
I can stop them, but I don't like to stop them, although if I don't stop them I just quit eventually, anyway.

Merle

When I feel on edge I will rub my arms and clench my fists. It's kind of like squeezing one of those stress reliever things that are made of a soft pliable material. In fact I am sure that's why a lot of people stim. In fact, stimming has been observed in about 10% of Neurotypicals.

for me it's volentary and involentary

For me it's almost like an automatic reaction.

For example...if something I don't like I can see, smell, hear etc I would flap my hands. Yes, I am aware that I am doing it, but it was automatic and not brought on voluntarily.

I do both.

It's mostly voluntary, though.

i move around without thinking about it much but i can control it or stop it if i am thinking about it. i just jiggle my leg/feet in public.

one of the worse times i ever had was when i was on a plane and the guy next to me told me to stop moving. i could stop, but the second i stopped thinking about it, i would start up again. i had to sream inside my brain, "don't move don't move don't move..." in a constant yell to not do it. made me so sick and angry and it was awful.

I do it involuntarily (rocking - mostly side to side), but can stop. Of course, as soon as I take my mind off it, I start right back up again. Happens when I'm concentrating on something, gets worse under stress. As a kid people tended to traumatize me by pointing it out, making fun or making a big deal out of it so I was somewhat able to channel it into a new behavior: twitching my leg or foot. I still twitch my leg in the car, where I used to have the biggest rocking "problems". But at home I've relaxed about it and allow myself to do it. It's still embarrassing (not quite the right word) when people focus on it, because it brings back old memories but I just try to ignore them.
Also, when I'm thinking of a new concept I sometimes tend to curl my hands so that the fingers touch the same wrist. Like when I get excited by a new idea I express it with my hands?

certain kinds of stimming is voluntary for me, like hand flapping... i do that mostly when i'm hyper.. lol. other things, i do without thinking about it.. like bouncing my leg up and down while i'm sitting or swaying back and forth while i'm standing, or rubbing my fingers together, or clenching my hands... but i can stop those things if i want.. but it bugs me.. and i don't want to stop.

sometimes, i'll get this urge to touch something.. like the mole on my sister's cheek (beauty mark.. lol) or my mom's elbow.. or some other random thing.. and it drives me crazy until i can do it. drives my family crazy 2, when i randomly start poking at them.. do you think that's a form of stimming?? or something else??

I tend to start stimming involuntarily.
I am willing to start stimming volutarily.