pacing around aimlessly in the house. A form of stereotype?

Post Reply New Topic

I was wondering why I very often would pace from room to room aimlessly.
It's not just walking around. it has some sort of rhythm to it and I kind of slightly jump in between of the steps.
Is this a kind of autistic stereotype thingie?

It could be some kind of stimming, yes. I pace a lot unless I have to sit in order to focus on something specific. Tends to be round and round in anti-clockwise circles for me, but I've mostly lived in single-room bedsits so not much chance to wander further. I do it on tiptoe a lot, which is a common autistic stereotype behaviour, so the "bounciness" of your pacing might be a similar thing.

I do this too, and I've heard some other autistic people say that they do so, too. However, I have not noticed any kind of specific rhythm in it. Personally, I do it because it helps me think. Having my body moving helps my mind to move... or something.

I do this sometimes. I might have a thought that triggers interest or anxiety or some other emotion in me, and feel the need to get up and pace around for a while to think about it. I also sometimes walk around just thinking about whatever's in my imagination at the time.

I realized some of you think while walking around. I rather go in a sort of trance state with no thinking. I sometimes do this deliberately to stop thinking (read making my mind STFU . Has anyone had a similar experience?

I do that all the time. I pace back and forth aimlessly and endlessly, mostly when I'm focusing on a specif subject and I'm standing. If I'm sat down, I'll just shake my legs frantically instead.

I practice meditation regularly. This helps alleviating those problems.

Wow. I just sat down after lapping the house a couple of times. I do it whenever I get excited, and I was pysched about signing up on this site. The pacing drives my family nuts. But, she exclaims excitedly, I am not alone with this odd little quirk!! !

I do it too. We have tile and I only step on every other tile--even when I'm not pacing. Helps that I'm a toe-walker.

It can be either for me. I think the pacing helps with thinking/anxiety sometimes, so it might start off as quite an agitated thing, quite often with a lot of muttering to myself, and gradually transform into the unreal/dissociated kind of state. The same thing happens to me when I go out for a walk alone in the countryside - I can sometimes walk for a few miles "on autopilot" and barely remember anything of the trip when I get to the end. If I manage to get out for a good walk outdoors, I usually find that I need to pace less at home, so I see it as a kind of "substitute stim" that also keeps me healthier and gets me out of the house more.

This is something I do all the time. If I'm excited, I walk really fast when I do it and move my arms and hands around a lot.

Yes, I do this too. When thinking, when talking on the phone, when brushing my teeth, when waiting for the bus, I pace around.

Although clearing when waiting for the bus, it's not around the house that I'm pacing.

I sometimes pace quickly around the house too, usually when speaking on the phone or when I'm anxious or excited. Also, when a thought makes me excited I often jump repeatedly in my place (but I only do it when I'm alone in my room; if there's someone watching me I just pace). I consider it to be a sort of stim, because I don't know any NTs who do it.

I do it all the time. In public I try to control it or channel it towards "going on a walk".

I pace most of the time, doing circles round the kitchen seems to be a favourite.