• Feeling isolated? You're not alone.

    Join 20,000+ people who understand exactly how your day went. Whether you're newly diagnosed, self-identified, or supporting someone you love – this is a space where you don't have to explain yourself.

    Join the Conversation → It's free, anonymous, and supportive.

    As a member, you'll get:

    • A community that actually gets it – no judgment, no explanations needed
    • Private forums for sensitive topics (hidden from search engines)
    • Real-time chat with others who share your experiences
    • Your own blog to document your journey

    You've found your people. Create your free account

What are your stims?

When I sit down, I lean on my foot and move my knee up and down rapidly. It usually makes people around me nervous.
 
This might be a bit silly question, but how do you know you stim? Would you consider any repetitive movement you do stim or is there more to it?

Like lets say, I tend to roll anything I find around me, belts, pieces of paper that I will subconsciously fold int thin strips and roll. I don't feel it has any purpose, I couldn't really tell you why I do it, and sometimes I'm not even aware I'm doing it.

I've been watching my boyfriend looking for his stims too, he taps his feet, his hands are generally on the keyboard, or holding something else so it's hard to notice if he does anything with them.
 
Gryffix said:
When I sit down, I lean on my foot and move my knee up and down rapidly. It usually makes people around me nervous.
Click to expand...

This is one of mine too. When my kids were little they would hang on to to my knee to see if they could stop it bouncing.

I find it relaxing.
 
I use my right big toe stim to find the 1/2 second signal light intervals to determine consistent launch timing from a dragrace starting tree...:cool:
 
I rock every now and then, I also smell things like my finger nails or scented candles. I also clench my jaw which is a really bad one that I'm trying my best to break out of but it's incredibly hard.
 
After reading some of these posts, I realized I have quite a few stims. I never thought of them as stims. They were just things I felt like I "need" to do or I just could not stand it. Of course, I annoyed tons of people growing up doing these things. Oddly now I can get into a state where I am baisically motionless and silent instead of stimming. I don't know if I am making much sense but I have worked so hard to suppress these stims that sometimes I just shut down instead. Does anyone else do this?
 
I'm a leg shaker, tip toer , hand flapper as I pace, I like to apply pressure in my mouth in conjunction with my fingers and toes, I have to shake sensations off, I'm a finger clicker, and a hair chewer.
 
Elle0252 said:
Oddly now I can get into a state where I am baisically motionless and silent instead of stimming. I don't know if I am making much sense but I have worked so hard to suppress these stims that sometimes I just shut down instead. Does anyone else do this?
Click to expand...

Yes. I can't do much useful from that state, though, the best I can do is meditate. It's kinda like losing time, unless I'm doing it deliberately and mindfully. I've gotten into the habit of doing it mindfully when in public, where there's lots of people, because I can't afford to not be aware then. However, when I am at home or my father's home (which I've never considered home), or even just walking outside and basically unaware that there are people, it's a different story.

Not too long ago this woman was staring at me from a turn in the road, and I didn't notice her and tried finding something in the grass (that my dog had put there), and I couldn't. Visual input was basically just a lot of shapes and colours, and I gave up and started walking away, at which point this starer made herself known by shouting abuse at me. Apparently unable to comprehend that she had sabotaged my attempt at doing what she was watching me to make sure I did. And it's not the first time someone has made my brain shortcircuit by "invading my space" with undue attention. I am starting to think that my sensory issues actually include the ability to feel when others are directing attention at me.

/off the cuff analysis that I hadn't given much thought before, except the "ability to feel eyes on me" thing
 
I have several different stims:

- Rocking

- Fidgeting with Tangle toys or other objects

- Biting/picking at my fingernails

- Bouncing my leg/knee

- Stroking my stuffed animals

- Wrapping myself in a blanket
 
Feet rubbing, feet shaking, knee bouncing, cheek chewing, eyebrow bouncing, knee bobbing while standing, whistling and clicking in my throat, face rubbing, folding my bottom lip out over my chin, and the most bizarre of all and my absolute favorite...

The intense need and desire to stick foreign objects or my fingers up my nose to make me sneeze over and over again. If just feels so, so good. Yes, I'm weird.
 
Rubbing my hands together or rubbing my knuckles,pacing up and down,I also like to stroke my fluffy blanket and also stroking some stuff toys I have and I don't know if this is a stim but I have had a habit of walking on my tip toes since I was a kid.
 
I think I have a few but nothing really obvious to others.

bite my tongue
bite my lips
chew the inside of my mouth
Tense my thigh muscles
Stretch my toes
Bounce my legs when sitting
Tap my feet
 
I do weird voices all the time, random, and spontaneous. Never knew that was an aspie thing at all, but I've been learning quite a lot lately! I also like to spin, in my chair but especially standing up.

If I am anxious, I pick my skin. I will keep it limited in front of others until I can get to a more private place, in which case sometimes will last for an hour at a time, to the point of making myself bleed.
 
I do stim. I'm not sure if it's related to AS or my personality, but... here goes:

pulling my hair (sometimes)
clicking my fingers to songs I like
tearing apart napkins when I have them
fidgeting with wrappers

below three more common than first

I have a few others, too. Sometimes, I pick on my skin. I used to pick my mouth constantly, and I am quite glad I got out of that habit. I started that in 6th grade but I haven't done that for years. I also used to chew on my shirts (ew and embarrassing), and I got out of that, too, fortunately.

When I was in 11th grade, sometimes I used a stress ball when stressed, and I picked it apart (goes with my fidgeting with wrappers / tearing apart napkins). The thing is, repetitive movement is usually of comfort in situations of anxiety.
 
If I am in a car I look at license plates and do the math in my head to get the license plate down to the nearest prime number. While I'm doing this I drum my fingers on my thigh.

When I'm happy I sing and rock in a way that is like dancing.

When I'm stressed I wrap my arms around me and rock back and forth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom