Your reasons for your stims

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Stims are interesting and all, but I think it would be more interesting to hear why everyone does their particular stims.
For example, when I stare at a bright light bulb I am trying to adjust my eyes so I can see the filament, and also I like the feeling of my iris muscle stretching.
So, what stims do you do and what reason do you have for doing them?

They keep me calm or calm me down, I do it when nervous or anxious or bored. Sometimes I find it relaxing.


I have been pacing around my apartment lately. I don't know why. I get this excited feeling and I release it by pacing. I don't feel ashamed of it because my husband says nothing about it but I am always concerened about the person below me wondering if he can hear me and it if it's driving him crazy or not. I figure if it were, then he would come up here and knocking on my door or leaving me a note. I also rock in my seat for the same reason.

I stim because is feels sooo damn good!

My is cracking my knuckles and moving my wrists.... I crack my knuckles often, so I have an impressice array of crack-age going on... I do it because it relaxes me.

People think of it as odd. For example, a girl on my school bus grabbed my wrists, and because I hate when people touch or grab at me, I started contorting my wrist because of how uncomfortable it was and she freaked out!

Because it feels good and it's relaxing.

a lot of my stims are sensory seeking, whether it be self injurious stims or stims such as rocking, i do every stim there is haha, but thats what its mostly for. if not its also for relaxing, coping, communicating, boredom, etc, but a lot for sensory seeking

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Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

I generally stim when I'm stressed, nervous, excited, and/or have sensory overload.

Oftentimes to pace myself - like an external metronome.

Odin - 'hi!' I meant to say hello before. I guess your 'stim' answer means to offset oneself - true.

Age1600: (quasi-PM) So good to see you, friend. Hope you're well.

Otherwise, unknown. Stimming if mostly involuntary - I can become lost in stimming; like another realm and far away.

Sometimes the stims come out if I've been talking to someone for too long. Sometimes I feel more agitated because of the stims, but not always. I find a calming from scratching or rubbing different parts.

Labpet I'm curious. Why do you no longer have your own YouTube account? Is it because of the changes they've made? I don't like some of the changes either because I think having arrays of icons and more blank space just looks better. Now it looks too busy. Some of the changes are good, such as that now links work when you place them in your profile, but I'm having a bit of difficulty with editing things. I really hope the site engineers eventually settle on something, and with any luck we might get a cleaner look back.

I tend to do mine unconciously a great deal of the time. Be bouncing a foot, rocking (thank Gaia for wheeled swivel computer chairs) neck cracking/rotating, finger cracking.

I also lightly run my fingers over the skin of my hands or under forearms from time to time as well, though that's always concious. Feels amazing though. Dunno why, just is.

Stim, little stim worm='sqworm' topic

I used to be good at hiding my stims because I did not want to have to explain them, or suffer bullying as a child. But they would find their way to the surface. I just had to do them, like scratching an itch. Now, ignoring them was an option, but in private I would let loose.
Twirling hair, placing the back of my hand against my nose, rubbing my thighs while seated, jigging my foot/knee, rubbing my forehead when anxious. Nothing here that no one else has not done. And the ROCKING. Seeking the sensory self. Oh, joy.

My main stim, which I have done since infancy, is stroking the tips of my fingers with various things. I bend my ear to a point and use that a lot and have actually made tiny elf points from doing it all my life I also use my fingernails and pinch the skin on my knuckles. If there is any kind of nobbly bit on a remote or something I will use that.

I do it subconsciously, without even knowing until someone else pints it out usually. I think I do it to minimise anxiety by keeping my hands busy. It has an added calming effect because my dad used to play with my ears and fingers when I was a baby. He has the same stim, even though he's not a diagnosed aspie.

I also have Tourette's so sometimes I can't tell which is which, and trichotillomania which is similar to a stim except it is anxiety producing in the end.

The stuff I know for sure to be stims are rocking and swaying and moving my head, which I typically do when I'm reading or writing or otherwise focused. I move my thumb across the inside of my fingers and stretch my fingers, move my hands repetitively when I'm nervous. I used to twirl my hair a lot.

I have a few stims that are more about pleasure, like rubbing my feet against the sheets when I go to sleep, staring at tree branches above me when I walk, rubbing my nose against my children's hair, mashing fresh yeast when I bake.

I like clothing stores. I touch the fabric, pinch it between my fingers and watch the light reflect. I sometimes buy stuff I'll never wear because the fabric is mesmerizing. Trying to quit that and replace it with window shopping.

Stims just feel good. Sometimes I'll stim like to release energy, when I'm thinking of something exciting, or am nervous. And I'm stimming, it feels so good.

Same as the others, they feel good and/or they relax me. I crack my knuckles, wrists, neck, back and jaw and I gently scratch my eyebrows, aswell as most of the things mentioned in this thread. I'm always doing something.