Is it possible to change your stims?

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To stim I constantly pull at my beard and ultimately pull the hairs out. I really would like to stop doing this. I end up with a scraggly beard and a sore chin.

Has anyone successfully managed to change their stims to something less destructive? What did you do?

Note, shaving is not an option!

Thanks

There was a time (when I was still in denial about being autistic) that I tried to stop stimming because the ones I had were either slightly self harming or annoying to others and I didn't really know why I was doing them. All I had been able to do is replace them, I am so focused on not doing one stim that another one starts happening. So yeah, it definitely is possible.

Just a few days ago I changed which stim I did because the last one was picking at my arms which I wanted to stop for obvious reasons. I have since changed it to rocking back and forth which I did by rocking back and forth when I otherwise would be picking at my arms, it became habit very quickly. I suppose the hardest part is coming up with a new stim to replace your old one with, so good luck with that.

When I was little, I would pick at my scabs. I managed to suppress the habit after years of trying to keep my hands busy and discouragement from the people around me.

It's very possible to change stims - just don't try to extinguish them as that just doesn't work. There is a 'motivation' behind the stim, sometimes more than one. I don't mean a conscious or emotional one, this is the realm of neurology not psychology. But, you have figure out what stimulus is being satiated or balanced when you do that particular stim. Is it keeping your hands busy? Is it the facial sensation? Is it the mild pain? And so on. Whatever you try to replace it with needs to fulfill those same stimulus need(s) and it could be a combination of several. I've found though that it may not always be as obvious as it appears. For instance, I used to tap my fingernails on things; it was annoying to my self and others. I tried various replacements but eventually realized that it was the sound through my body that I needed. Now when I have to I gently tap my incisor teeth together. The force needed to provide the same bone sound sensation in my head is minute so I'm not even close to damaging my teeth.

I have a leather lanyard that clips to my belt loop.
When I am in school I twist it around my fingers and chew on it some, so that I do less distracting stimming like rocking back and forth and moving my hands and arms around a lot.

This is all I got.

- Give yourself something to play with like blue-tack.
- When you feel the urge to stim don't and let the feeling move through you until it becomes a sensation in the body. I'm convinced that stimming is a distraction from an uncomfortable sensation that you are no yet able to deal with.

I would love for one of my behaviors to change (it is self-destructive) and involves using my fingers.

in grade school, i used to chew on my hair but stopped after i got a bad grade in "is neat and clean." i also used to jiggle my legs under the desk a lot. probably just did that more. all it took was some focused attention.