Do you have a favorite stim? And why do you do it?

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I'm new at all of this and not really sure of any of my stims but bouncing up and down and hand flapping when I'm really excited occurs often. I am extremely fond of rocking chairs also.

I also love rocking chairs but jiggling my right leg is my favorite stim. I guess I do it because it calms me down and simply feels good to me for whatever reason.

Is it involuntary? Or is it more of something you just "do"?

Putting a shirt in front of my mouth, because I've been occupying my mouth for as long as I can remember.

Most of the time it is involuntary and I just happen to be jiggling my leg while I'm sitting down, but once I notice it I have to power to stop it. I just don't see a reason to stop it unless it is clearly bothering somebody so I usually keep doing it even after I notice it.

Swinging on a swing, but I don't do it much anymore, my rear end is nowhere near child size and the hooks that connect the seat to the chain dig into my hips and it hurts.

Could any of these be stims?

Smoking
Picking at rough skin
Wiggling my toes or rubbing my feet together
Tapping my fingers to music
Counting
Swishing liquid around in my mouth

I'm probably way off on these, I just can't figure this one out.

Same thing with me.

Also, I've always twiddled my fingers, and tapped on things aLOT, sometimes like drumming. When I was 13 I started playing with fingerboards (obsessively) to try and channel it, and still do a bit at 30 years old.

I'm not sure about the smoking but all of the others I would say can be described as stims.

The only reason that I asked about the smoking is because when I get in the car, I MUST light one up, no matter how short the drive. I'm not even one to go smoke after sexy-time. But with my morning coffee, most of the time after I eat and the car thing is more of one of those things I just can't stop doing. It may be because I've been smoking for 16 years though.

I often find myself slowly rocking back and forth while I am standing around waiting for something. I caught myself a few times in public doing it waiting on lines etc. I try to control it better in public once I became more aware of my behavior.

Same here. I find myself doing any number of stims without thinking about it but when I then notice I like to carry on as it just feels right. However, one that really annoys my wife is that when I read in bed, I subconsciously rock my right leg from side to side, sort of like it helps me concentrate whilst reading. She'll suddenly point out that i'm doing it and tell me to stop. I then try really hard but it starts again without me thinking about it a few minutes later, but I certainly don't mind it. I've always done it and I guess my wife will just learn to cope as it isn't that bad really (at least I dont think so) .

I also wiggle my fingers like i'm playing guitar when I listen to music (cannot be helped at all) and I've started rocking my hand back and forth at the wrist for some reason. I'm not at all sure why on that one. Oh, and I absolutely love rocking chairs. We bought one for the nursery before my son was born but it's now my day time reading chair, I love rocking so much

I like drumming on my knee. When I notice I can stop but it feels better to continue, I usually do this when I need to calm myself. I have noticed that I often rest my hand around my knee too, it feels right. Sometimes I will flick my fingers back and forth across my knee cap,I try not to do this infront of people.

I like our lazyboy chair that rocks so much that I sleep in it

Correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems stimming is more something to do to help relax and soothe, right?

I'd say it's just an addiction.