Pacing: My Stim of Choice

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My stim of choice, for numerous years now, has been pacing. When I feel the need to scratch my stim itch, I get up and pace back and forth while contemplating mental baggage from the last few days. In addition to scratching my stim itch, pacing provides me with a bit of extra exercise for the day.

Any other pacers here?

I never quite thought about it but I realised lately that when I'm outdoors, if I'm stopped waiting (i.e. for a traffic light to turn green) I will rock from left to right. It soothes me somehow, but I rarely do it while at home. So I guess I'm a part-time, context-specific pacer? What I do at home is play with my headphones' coiled cord, play with my lower lip, and roll / twist my toes.

I've always been a big pacer. My family has often complained that I'm making them seasick.

I'm. It's one of my earliest stim as long as I could remember. I like it when each of the vibration of my steps reaches my head or ear, and feel the freedom of space and the gravity.

But I don't pace in one place or area -- I pace in city routes. It saved me a lot of money from commuting. And it kills time.

I could pace for hours at the same time going where I wanna go, and I can justify whether I should stop or not. Whenever someone want me to walk to do an errand, it's basically telling me to stim while doing a job.

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oh yeah, I pace back and fourth constantly

When rocking won't do it for me any longer I pace and walk in circles.

I pace when I'm nervous or impatient.

Only when I'm on the phone do I find myself pacing back and forth. My sister does that, too. Maybe it's hereditary?

not a pacer but I tend to hover ( stand in one place with small movements that I think are unnoticeable )

raises hand

It's my most common movement stim. I used to be able to supplement it with using playground swings but because of my full grown womanly hips, I can't use them anymore.

I often listen to the same song on repeat and daydream entire novels worth of fantasy adventures. The repetitive motions help me get the to the strongest level of complete indulgence. But I often ture to it more when I'm stressed.

One of my parents had insisted on a "accomendation" for me that involved me walking around in a giant, empty track and field house only for me to get frustrated and angry because she didn't know I can only get into the day dreaming headset that I wanted by doing so in a familiar and somewhat cozy environment.

I find pacing is good for thinking, and is a more socially acceptable stim than many.

I do this so much that I quite often find myself pacing around, then wonder exactly how long I've been doing it. When my mind starts cogitating, it seems I can get up out of my chair and begin pacing without even noticing the transition.

So long as there are no obstacles in my path, I always pace in anti-clockwise circuits rather than backwards-forwards in a line, and for a really satisfying stim, on tip-toes. I'm also very particular about not being seen or heard doing it - even when I'm in a situation where I know "spectators" would be happy to tolerate it (e.g. when in the company of other autistic people). Because of that, I have become very expert at pacing silently - I have a "mental-map" of every squeaky floorboard in the places I have lived. I find that concentrating on doing it as quietly as I can is in itself very therapeutic - like a form of active meditation or mindfulness (I can't sit still long enough for the usual kind of "meditation").

I get a similar effect from doing a mildly strenuous walk too. I generally choose to walk wherever I need to go unless the distance/time is prohibitive, and have always lasted longer in jobs where I could commute on foot rather than beginning/ending the work day with the stress of dealing with public transport (or indeed, just the public!). Thankfully, this also means that I get some regular exercise - I've never liked sports, and don't like the atmosphere of gyms etc., so would probably end up being a complete "couch-potato" if I didn't getting out for a walk around the neighbourhood.

As FandomConnection said, I also find pacing really helpful when I need to think something through. In jobs that I had in the past, I often wished that it was more acceptable to get up and walk around a little to get my mind working, instead of being expected to remain at the workstation completely stalled with a "mental block". A short burst of the pacing stim is also the only thing that really calms the physical restlessness and fidgeting - I couldn't comfortably sit all the way through a feature film without burning off some of that physical energy first.