How do you stim?

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Me:

I play with a long belt or wavy ribbon

I flap my hands

I rock in my chair

I pace

I like to hug/be hugged tightly



-SpaceCase

Rocking, I have quite a repertoire.

I run the satin ribbon on a blanket or the edge of a ripstop sleeping bag through the fingers of my left hand, one finger under, the next finger over, like weaving, and work my way long the edge and back. I used to sit the the shower for hours, 'til I was quite pruned. Not so much, anymore. Head rocking side-to-side when lying down, especially when I was a child. I must be tightly wrapped and weighted to sleep, with my head covered.

I doodle, used to paint (until I had baby J), rock back and forth, click my pen or mechanical pencil and unfortunately I still bite at the inside of my cheek despite many attempts to stop.

I spin a scarf and pace around and talk to myself. I also revert back to my imaginary world of fantasy. VERY LIBERATING!! !

I rock back and forth or bounce up and down in my chair. I bounce my leg or wiggle it. I wiggle my fingers. I squeeze my arms and legs hard (like a massage). I flex muscles in my arms and legs over and over. I pop my shoulder unconsciously, which unfortunately becomes painful and leads to numbness in my fingers after awhile. I scratch my head or my hands. I mouth random words going through my head, or even more often lyrics in my head.

I have so many more it is hard to keep track of all of them.

play with tongue ring, bite cheeks, rock, wriggle toes, tend to tuck my hands in betwen my legs or under my arms and focus on styaing still (so hugging myself hard?)... i kinda flex my diaphram in a way... kinda like playing with how i exhale... i have this thng i do with my fingers where, in one swift motion, i pass all my fingrtips evr so slightly over my thumb and have them slide back and forth over my thumb... almost like making the hand gesture for money.

when i'm upset... i put my knees to my chest, rock and mouth my knees or roll my eye sockets across my knees

there's a couple other things that might belong on a different forum

Flap hands and fingers, bounce leg, pick skin on lip, hair pull (eyebrows), talk to myself, repeat words in my head, tap on desks, shake legs if standing still when anxious.

Mainly it's nail biting, 'till there's no nails left, then it's finger biting.

Interestingly, if I'm in a situation where it's considered tacky to be gnawing on my digits (well, when is it ever considered appropriate?) such as at a restaurant with family or something, then I'll rock slightly (swaying may more accurately describe it) and then I don't need to bite my fingers.

Does anyone else substitute stims when needed?

Before biting my nails, I used to twist my fingers to make them crack--I had an intricate system and order of getting every joint to pop--but the guy sitting next to me in class would punch me in the arm whenever I did it (the sound gave him the creeps--can't hardly blame him...) so I stopped cracking, and started biting.

Interesting...

Is w*king a form of stim?

Crack my fingers (all three joints), wrists, elbows, and my toes. Chew up my fingernails and pick at loose flaps and slivers of skin around them- occasionally to the point of revealing raw flesh or bleeding. Rock in various directions, bounce my legs and feet and flex my toes. When I was in school I would roll pens with my fingers or chew on them (I had an elaborate way of disassembling them with my teeth), as well as tear apart notebook covers (I got the plastic ones), and scrawl all over the pages (instead of taking notes). I'll mutter to myself as random thoughts pass through my head, almost as though I'm tasting them. Also, I tend to stare at things when I'm thinking, so I have to afix my gaze to something that won't get offended. Finally (although I don't know if this is a stim) I tend to drift off into my own fantasy world if something doesn't interest me

Oh, and lastly what exactly is 'Hand-flaping'? I never could quite fathom that.