do you stim ?

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I'm not sure whether I do or not. When I first read about it, I was thinking it was an aspie/autie trait that I didn't have, but the more I read wrong planet, the more it seems that anything can be a stim, including a lot of things that I do do. What's more, I think something in my brain has learned from the folks here that it's OK, because I catch myself rocking back and forth or side to side quite a bit now, which I never did before, except in a rocking chair. When I'm angry at myself (meltdown?) I sometimes punch myself in the thigh with my fist, hard enough to hurt, and sometimes leave a bruise, but just once. Hurting reminds me that I don't want to do that again!

I rock side to side, bounce my feet, bite my sleeve, and spin around in circles.

i used to bite my jumber sleeves all the time from when i was in nusery and all through first school , i bit huge holes in my jumper sleeves i remember first school being realy stressful then midle school was stressful, then high school was stresful ........

I sucked the neckline of my shirt, and I still cover my mouth with it.

Sound silly to say it here, but I don't know what 'stimming' is. I'm making assumptions from what I understand about it, but I only hear the word in AS communities.

Stimming=self stimulation I though? Stimulating your own senses in a controlled manner.

Hah, well. I think everyone does it, but maybe NTs do it less than Aspies? The way you defined it, stimming is my life!

When I'm at home: twiddling my fingers, sometimes in front of an eye. Also rhythmically tapping the mouse. And hand flaps, but not often (I did that one a lot as a kid).

When out-and-about it's either balling up my hands or having my thumb pressing my ring finger down on my palm and with the little & middle finger outstretched (and with a bent elbow). I don't know if I'm describing that well.

Overall I stim a lot less than when I was younger, though.

Hand flapping regularly, but not as frequently as a year ago.
Tapping things.
Staring at my lamp
Rocking
Tapping my teeth together
Flicking my fingers
Rubbing my skin
Hitting or slapping my thighs
Various hand movements I find difficult to describe
Other things I'm forgetting right now.

I had a lot of stims as a child that I stopped doing at some point, but I still stim almost constantly.

When I was a kid, I flapped my arms a lot. I stopped because I got bullied, but now have started again. I also chew on my hair.

As a kid my family called them explosions. They were the main source of my bullying so I learned to keep them to private moments, but they are still very much a part of my life.

Bison

Rocking, finger rubbing, lip chewing, playing with fidget toy, shaking head.

oh yes i have fidget toys .

I'm doing it, right now. Rubbing my rubber bands, jst twiddling them about, enjoying the texture..
Has anyone come up with a reason we do this?! I think it might actually release endorphins but I'd like to hear other opinions & research on this subject..

Sincerey,
Matthew

I used to suck my bottom lip, and rhythmically thump my fingers across ridges in fabrics, like my jeans or sheets or pillow cases. It made my father furious... it made me happy.

I almost never do it in public nowadays, or that much at home, but rocking, some hand flapping. and tracing the textures of stuff. Mostly I just hug my fav stuffed dog, if I'm really troubled I'll hug my second fav dog, sturdier dog. For some reason I think he's better if I'm really anxious.

-If I'm really, really excited, I flap my hands for a few seconds.
-Rubbing my finger and thumb together
-Stroking my hair (when very stressed)
-Cracking my knuckles (I don't know if that counts, but I like the sensation of it)
-Scratching my neck, head, and sometimes hands (I do this a lot and it feels very good)
-Playing with straw wrappers and things like that (but that is mostly due to anxiety)