Adults: stimming in general

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I was reading the thread "Adults: How much hand-flapping do you do" with interest, but wanted to expand the question to stimming in general.

Do you stim, and if so, what do you do and how often?
Do you tend to stim in private, or do you have a 'publicly accepable' stim?
Have you ever been caught out stimming, and what sort of reaction did you get?
And why do you think you stim?

For me, when I'm in public, I tend to drum my fingers or rock my leg on my heel.
I used to rock alot, or 'bump' as my family called it but only at home. I remember being caught out rocking once, by a girl who had a reputation for creeping about like a thief in the night. There was a bit of mickey-taking, but it seemed to be forgotten pretty quickly. When I know I'm alone and nobody is around to see, I tend to spin, especially to music - that is something I would never even think of doing if there was the slightest chance of anyone catching me out. I do have an involuntary stim, though, which can freak people out, I seem to like to stare at bright lights. I don't realise I'm doing it.

The whole idea of stimming usually makes me think of severely autistic children, rocking back and forth or constantly flapping their hands, not something an otherwise intelligent and well-adjusted adult would do. But I find it relaxing and, as long as there's on-one else to see, perfectly normal.

I'd be really interested to hear what other people do, if anything.

Wait, you drugged this girl
to cover up the evidence?

Sorry, a bit of British slang crept in there:
Mickey-taking = making fun of someone.

Ah. I hand flapped heavily when younger,
still do it, but much less. Mainly to induce
movie-like visions. In a sense, masturbating
is the equivalent, but with more sexual visual
scenes.

A number of other minor stims, as well,
most not really as directly linked to my
visual center. Though, I often twitch my
fingers when walking, especially when the
wind is playing with me, and get some
intense visions/feelings. Not the same
as the movie like stuff, more centered
on me - like entering into a fantasy world.

I often do not notice when I stim.
Someone at work said I have 'spastic hands' and I do worry about how I appear at work.
The main thing is, I know I am an intelligent, capable young woman.

someone said you had "Spastic hands"? People can be SO damn rude!


My 'public' stims are:

handwringing
bouncing leg up and down
rubbing feet against carpet
running nails along scalp
Digging nails into hands or arms


My non-public stims:

rocking
vocal tics
movement tics
tongue clicking
rubbing feet / legs / body against fabric of carpet or duvet or blanket.
Wrapping myself tightly in blanket
spinning and contorting body into odd shapes / odd movements (kind of like a cross between an aspiring acrobat and an aspiring contortionist!)
Jumping up and down (my bf bought me an adult space hopper which really helps with this!)
Spinning objects
Thumping / bouncing body against surfaces (walls, pillows etc.)


Stims that I don't realise I'm doing / that are borderline involuntary:

vocal tics
tongue clicks
some movement tics
digging nails into arms


That's all I can think of at the moment...

I have autism (just thought would say, i know that alot of people on werid planet condiser autism a different disorder then aspie,,why? i dont know...mybe they don't want to be grouped togather..but it is a spectrum for a reason..so shhhh dont tell them thought) haha . .i consider myself intelligent..after all a 3.85 GPA in college is not that easy to get..as well as the national deans list and honor socetiey...and yet I stim...and stink at spelling haha...im also married to an NT...saturday will be our 1yr anniviersy..but known each other for over 5yrs
public:
flaphands at times
rock from one foot to another but nothing to fast or something that someone would really notice right away
keep thumbs inside my palm of my hands
stare into space

at home:
rock
spin
flap more
sing same song over and over
walk on tip toes
giggle out of nowere
watch bright lights
bang fingers against each other

Public:
-bouncing the leg
-staring at and playing with my fingernails
-taking apart and putting back together a pen
-picking the fuzzballs off my sweater or socks
-playing with my hair
-subtle rocking
-toe walking

Private:
-all of the above
-clapping
-talking to myself

I try to keep my public ones to a minimum and a "socially acceptable" level. Even with that, the leg bouncing annoys a lot of people. If it's a stressful situation, though, other people will notice and think that something is seriously wrong with me (I once got asked if I was okay, because the guy said it looked like I was going to have some sort of hypoglycemic seizure or something).

wow, see my biggest stim is usually taking one of the ends of my hair and rubbing my thumb across it; making a flicking sound. I use a lot of conditioner so that my hair is really smooth when i do it.. i also wring my hands when i am at work and deciding what i need to do next. when i get nervous, i duck my head down and grimace a little. Usually, i merely treat it as normal behavior, because for me it is. I dont care if people think it is strange. it doesnt hurt anyone and it helps me concentrate. Its not like i do that kind of stuff for someone else's benefit. If someone asks me about it, i just tell them that it helps me focus. Most of the time others can respect that.

when i am alone and thinking :

I 'type' on the air or I walk around and around in circles

not sure of public stimming but i am sure i have few

Wow, I thought I was the only one who experienced that! I can still get some movie-like visions ("imaginings" would be most accurate) when listening to music. That's why Tangerine Dream is my favourite artist - their electronic soundscapes seem to encourage the most energetic or pleasurable visions.

I relate to alot of these traits!

I drive my wife crazy when I keep whistling the same songs over and over again.

I was just drumming my chest with my left hand fingers (stopped now because I type mostly with left hand). There's music from the radio, but no excuses: this is obvious stimming, and quite usual when I'm looking at something requiring only the mouse.

I have no life, so when I'm really lonely and bored and depressed with nothing to do and no one to talk to (which is often), I do the same thing I've done since I was like 2: waved around a string, while thinking of things I like... one wave of the string for every thing I like, or sentence or event in a stimulating story.

I'm the same way, I often don't realize that I'm doing it for some time, at times I probably don't notice at all.