Public stim supression

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I’ve noticed that when I’m not home I tend to suppress my more “weird” stims, and sometimes it gets to the point where I can’t even stim by shaking my leg because my brain is just blocking it out so much, which leads me to get extremely agitated by everything. I seem to be doing this unintentionally from years of masking. Does anybody else have this problem, or had this problem in the past? I’m trying to break out of it because I get more overwhelmed if I can’t stim.

I do that too. Ever since learning about AS, I'm too self-conscious to stim in public, so I try to restrain myself.

Even though 99% of people might have no idea why I'm rocking or whatever.

Leg shaking/foot tapping, I don't restrain myself unless I'm sitting somewhere where the vibrations are going to bother someone else sitting nearby.

I do leg shaking so often I usually don't realize I'm doing it until my wife tells me to stop or puts her hand on my knee.

If I'm anxious while out I tend to twist my wrist and bend my hand as far forward as it will go. It probably causes some people to keep their distance, so it's not all that bad Something like this, maybe;

Honestly, I never really felt the urge to suppress it, but I can understand how years of masking might cause you to.

I've never tried to mask because I lacked the self-awareness to realize that I was different as I was a kid. That said, I stopped resorting to stims around the time I was thirteen. I became stiff and awkward, probably because that's just a phase that teenagers go through. My younger sister is going through it now, and she's never stimmed. As I became more comfortable with the way I moved, the way I dressed, and how I interacted, that stiffness wore off. I started paying attention to other people and saw that many are in constant motion in some manner. Rocking subtly, tapping their foot. I learned when it was appropriate to let off some steam and in what manner. My stims are subtler now than they were when I was a kid, and I'm more comfortable using them as a tool in the proper context. It'll get easier when you're older, I think. Just give yourself time to adapt to the level of restraint required by adulthood. You'll find a balance eventually.

Yeah in my experience, people generally don't care as long as it's not too disruptive. I really love messing with my hair and using my fidget cube. I never really stopped stimming honestly. I never really cared and I just did it.

Stimming is a form of stress relieve. It is a natural reaction. So without stimming you are becoming more stressed. The main objective is to swim in a socially acceptable manner. It is easier to change your stimming than to get rid of it all together. Or to save your stimming to a location where it will not be observed. For example many stim in their home but not away from home.

When I was young I was a thumb sucker. It provides comfort and is a way of relieving stress. My mom was constantly scolding me to stop this habit before I started school. So I must have been 5 or 6 when I stopped. She bought me a Davey Crockett western jacket with fringes. So I stopped thumb sucking and transitioned into chewing and sucking on the leather fringes of the jacket. After a couple years, I ate off all the fringes, mom threw the jacket away and I transitioned into biting my fingernails.

I can't suppress it... I have anxiety and I do a variety of things, my most major one is hitting the side of my legs with my fists while standing up. In fact I'm almost constantly shaking my leg, chewing my nails, etc to infinity

If I'm going to stim, usually, it's going to be rocking back and forth. Generally, if someone sees you doing that, they're going to think something is wrong with you

Actually, now that I think about it, I really don't rock as much as I used to...

Eh most people dont actually think that much of it. A lot of NTs stim too. Biting fingernails, bouncing leg, tapping fingers, fidgeting with their pencil, playing with their hair, etc etc. Its natural and its normal. Personally, I keep a lid on the extent of which I do it, but I dont not do it at all. I dont even realize I am half the time and I dont think Id be able to stop. As I grew up I just kinda adjusted to what was socially acceptable and at most a lot of my classmates just think Im a little ADHD which doesnt bother them or me that much.
If you stopped suppressing it I think you'd feel a lot better, and I dont think you really have to worry much about other peoples potential reaction. Most people are way too self absorbed to notice you're fidgeting a little.

I had to give up rocking and flapping my hands when I got my first job, and then for 30 years. But since I retired, and discovered I'm AS, I sought, discovered, and resumed my old stims, what a relief!

I don't need anything else to identify me as different, so I try not to do anything weird in public.

If I can't bounce my leg, I do a thing with my hands rubbing in circles. My wife hates that and stops me. She doesn't mind the leg bouncing. I try not to do it when she is with me,otherwise I don't care.

Sean