What to do about distributive stimming?

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Cammr
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04 Mar 2020, 3:33 pm

Hello. So I stim by just jumping around. It doesn’t effect my day to day living, as I only do it in comfortable environments (my home.)

However, in a year and a bit I’ll have to go to a sort of boarding school. I’ll be staying in a building next to the school for students attending. I’m worried that when the building I’m staying at becomes homely, I’ll start stimming in this manor. How do I stop this?

Also, can this sort of stimming cause long term knee damage? I’m worried about that happening. Is it possible?



Karamazov
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04 Mar 2020, 4:15 pm

I’ve never been able to stop it entirely, but I do do other things as substitutes.

Mostly rhythmically drumming fingers, fingernails, pencils on whatever’s to hand.
Rhythmically flicking my toes in my shoes is another.
But they only go so far:
I’m approaching forty and some days I still just have to dance & leap round the house.

Will the school have after hours physical activities you could sign up for? Might be a way of burning off energy so you trend towards less overt stims... I know I’m less likely to jump about the place when I’ve spent a day laying gravel or block paving: might work for you too...

Never had a problem with my knees: but I have leapt headfirst into door frames a few times... that hurts a lot!
Watch out for them :lol:



Cammr
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04 Mar 2020, 4:26 pm

Thank you for your reply. It’s highly likely the school will have activities, and I can always go for a walk. Will think about substitutes. Thanks.



Karamazov
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04 Mar 2020, 4:35 pm

Coolness 8)



cosine
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04 Mar 2020, 9:57 pm

go ahead and practice the substitutes, now, while you are still in your most comfortable environment, then you will know what works best for you.



Karamazov
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05 Mar 2020, 3:15 am

Yeah, don’t let yourself fall into self-harming stims by accident by suppressing your main one all in one go: I spent a chunk of my twenties pulling out my own eyelashes and moustache hairs as a stim! Whoops! 8O :lol:



MyNameisNic
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05 Mar 2020, 9:36 am

Yay a fellow jumper! I actually have never been able to really jump well, so I stim by hopping when I feel pent up excitement or a lot of stimulation. People around me think it's funny, so that helps. If I'm in a place where I can't do it, I ball my hands into fists, straighten my arms out completely, and bounce slightly with a lot of my muscles tensed. I found that helps. I also have a LOT of stim toys, but nothing works quite like a little bounce.


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