How do you stim?

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Jeez...what do I NOT do?

I rock when sitting and sway when standing, I doodle, count stuff, trace shapes with my eyes, move my hand and/or foot in circles, wiggle my fingers, rub my hands together a la Lady MacBeth, tap my fingers, shake my leg, rub my feet together, fiddle with stuff (especially things that click -- pens, beads, small rocks), play with my hair, stroke the skin on my arms and face, bite my cuticles, chew my lips... the list is endless. I'm sure I look like a lunatic in that most of the time I don't know that I'm doing this stuff, so do it in public a lot.

I repeat words or phrases in my head and have music in my head most of the time, but I see that as more of a inhibition control flaw rather than a stim.

I've condensed all my old stims into one activity: twirling a pen. I spin a pen or pencil in between two fingers, progressing from the index to the pinky and back again. I have a pen on me almost all the time. The action is simple enough to do anywhere but complex enough to give my thoughts something of a lightning rod.

I'm glad I found this particular stim. I've also never been called out on it like I would with bouncing my leg, pacing or rocking. It's a lot more socially acceptable than those things.

I bounce my leg.
Something I do when I am in the kitchen is I grasp both door handles of the side by side fridge, jerk backward to loose the suction of the doors, I go backwards, when the doors go all the way to the opposite of being closed gravity swings me back inward and the doors latch once more. It's pretty crazy.

I had some bad luck doing this two days ago, on the return swing my fingers got slammed in the door. I think there is internal bruising.

I do this a lot as well. Holographic material holds a special fascination for me. I've also been known to drum my fingers and sway my head to music in my head. Sometimes I talk to myself and don't always realize it until I get stared at in public. If I'm in a swivel chair, I'll swing back and forth in it. It's all good fun

Touching or flicking my fingers, wringing hands or twisting them, flapping or twirling a piece of paper or dry twig in my fingers, toe-walking, rocking, shaking my head sideways, moving back and forth between both legs (putting weight on one foot then the other).

I also like to spin in water (salt water spa) and can still get hypnotically absorbed by sparkling things.

Last edited by Noetic on 18 Apr 2014, 3:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I used to have that tic as a kid. It's not good for your throat and a colleague does this and it makes me have very very violent fantasies about hurting him because I abhor sudden noises like that.

Hi sonataform,
I do that too. For me it is automatic & I have no control over when I do it. It happens when someone introduces a random thing which distrupts my routine.

I hand flap when another person "throws in" too much chaos. I also pace up and down, and the feeling going on in my head is very simular to the hand-flapping but "down one notch".

I didn't know it until it was brought to my attention, but when I am happily excited I rock. Not a lot, but enough for people that are aware of such behaviour to "spot it".

I will answer this later.

Hand flapping, chewing on my hand, rocking, making clicking sounds, using my textured Tangle (sometimes up and down).

Depending on situation, they include: when I am anxious I twist/move my fingers or hand, when I am distressed or tired I rub my face, when I am thinking I pace, when I am excited I I flap my hands, repeat sounds or words fast (like lalalalalala) etc


This site is really cool: url=http://insideperspectives.wordpress.com/compulsions/stimming/

Happily my stims are mostly considered semi-odd or not that weird. yay!
my semi-odd stims according to classification:
-rubbing
-twisting fingers
-pacing
-talking to oneself

hmm I also have some odd stims. I avoid doing them when I am not at home but some are hard to control!
-smelling things (damn hard to control! If it is the right kind of paper or wood I WILL smell! this site has a description: "certain smells cause intense pleasure" YESSSSS)
-touching things (I can hardly control this one either. I even touch other people's stuff if they are not looking because it is IRRESISTIBLE. I have got into trouble for touching other people's stuff without permission before Laughing)
-toe walking (I only do this at home! But sometimes when I am excited I half-do it outside home too, like I get in my toes and then down, up and down. this people think is weird)

when I am tired I feel a weird sensation around my eyes area that gives me an urge to rub it. I can't explain but it is a weird sensation. Anyone feel it too?

Oh! I do it too! Sounds dumb but I never realized it was a stim! I actually don't pay much attention to when I do this. All my fingers touch my thumb one at a time repeatedly. Usually fast but sometimes I change the rythms like I imagine I am spelling a word time and time again or making sequences 3 at a time etc
awesome! I feel like I discovered a great secret about myself. Even though it is no big deal

I gently rub my right foot against the bedsheet as I fall asleep. I stroke my left forearm with my right hand.

When I am in a social anxiety group, I notice the vibrating leg stimming in others, and it is usually young men (under 30) and nearly always the right leg. I've yet to see a young woman doing this particular stim. Curious.

Makes me wonder if there are male/female differences in kinds of stimming. As an adolescent, I had to keep doing this compulsive shoulder-hunching thing and then after a few years it just stopped.

tracing words with my fingers, writing, doodling, bobbing my head back and forth, talking to myself, and when i'm by myself, um...furiously scratching my head...

I shake my legs--both of them fast but alternating like you're on a bike.
I chew the inside of my cheek, roll my eyes or rub them.
I rub or itch my head. Trace patterns on my arm or leg or table in front of me.
Trace over my eyebrows with my fingernail.
I pace, a lot, sometimes tensing all my muscles while I walk in a big circle through the house.
Tap my fingers to my thumb in sequential order; click my tongue and make other
little sounds with my mouth.

I chew my tongue, repeat words to myself (silently), rock (not often, and only in private), pick at my skin (not to any extreme, and very discreetly, thank you), and that's all I can think of. I used to bite my nails when I was little, but my mom used that bitter tasting nail "polish" to put an end to that!

Skin picking, rocking, jumping around while listening to music, rubbing things with my fingers - like my stones or my plushie Dory's tail or any other plushie - scratching, bouncing, wrapping myself up in blankets, playing with Tangle toys, touching objects to my lips or mouth...tons of things.