What are your stims? (Title Pending)

Sorry for lack of creative title--I couldn't think of a good pun. I might change it if I think of one later.

Anyway, this thread as the title suggests is where you can post about any of your stims! Anyone is welcome to post!

My current stims that I'm aware of are flapping when either happy or agitated (as has been the norm for...Idk how long) and listening to the same songs over and over again. There are probably more, and in fact I've done different ones in the past, but those two are probably the ones that I do the most/can think of off the top of my head. I also sometimes jump up and down or clap if I get really excited+happy and need to release energy.

When I'm at my therapist's office, I play with these magnetic triangles or squares that stick together. They look almost identical to these. I'm planning on getting the ones I linked to, bc they're colorful and also a lot of fun to just. Pull apart or stack.

 

OH BOY DO I HAVE A LIST

- Listening to the same song/set of songs on loop for days on end (which blew my goddamn mind when I learned that was a stimmy thing)
- Rocking back and forth
- Fiddling with spinny ring

Spoiler: self-harm cw

- Hitting/scratching myself, not as a self-harm thing specifically but just because I'm Processing Things(tm)

- Jiggling my leg
- Playing with thinking putty
- Rubbing my teeth
- Holding my hand up into the air and then letting it drop back down when it becomes numb
- clicky pens and bubble wrap

... also there might be others but that's what pops to mind immediately.

 

I'm still figuring out what a lot of mine are, but wew there's a bunch:

-eating crunchy stuff. I'm not sure if it's quite pica level but I ate a lot of non-food items (bricks, a limestone paperweight, sidewalk chalk, pencil leads etc.) when I was a kid just for the sensory input. Still sometimes look at things like that and my brain's like hey,,,, I wanna Chew On That....
-listening to the same few songs on loop for weeks on end
-leg jiggling, flapping, tapping fingers
-wrapping myself in things with pressure-blankets etc.

Also under a cut bc unsanitary/self-harm ish:

Spoiler

-I've compulsively picked my nose since I was v small, never really managed to train myself out of it.
-I pick the skin on my face and upper arms, and my scalp, and sometimes pull hair out. I've managed to cut back on the damage this does by shifting some of the urge to shaping my eyebrows and plucking my leg hair, but it's hard to stop when it's gotten to the point of being completely unconscious. Shrug.jpg

 

I need sleep but I thought of a couple more!

-Twisting (turning my torso left and right)
-rubbing/petting soft things (my pearl blanket is my current fave)

Will post more when I think of more!

 

@Corvus yep! It is the softest blanket I own. :>

 

!!! i did not know listening to songs on repeat was a stim?? but also: maybe then it's no wonder that that is the only way i listen to music?

+ does watching television shows on repeat count too?
+ flannel against my face
+ rocking back and forward when excited
+ chewing stuff
+ touching my mouth
+ clicky/flippy things
+ swirly animated color things, like the miracle modus and random screensavers
+ wiggling leg/foot/toes

 

I like to have things I can fidget with. Like click or take apart or twist. Things like that.

I also hum a lot. Like not tunes but just the same few notes, each held for a bit and then repeated. Alternatively when I need to make sounds with mouth bits I'll practice phonemes.

 

Pressing hard stuff against my fingertips. My own fingers will do in a pinch but I like smooth plastic the most (beads!)

Spinning in place

Squeezing my fingertips esp between a pen and a pen cap

When I'm really stressed I like repetitive movements with my hands. Wringing or tapping or muted clapping or thunk thunk thunk on my knee etc

 

wiggling my feet
...not exactly chewing, but having stuff in my mouth and playing with it with lips and teeth? most often fingertips and pendants
humming and singing and making sounds
(esp when distressed - there's specific calm-down beeps)
playing music on repeat
knitting

and the big reset-button stim is laying on the bed and whole-body wiggling

 

Spoiler: long

Spinning is another good one! I do this at work sometimes, especially if wearing a skirt! I like the swish feeling.

So is bouncing up and down while either clapping, flapping, or otherwise waving my hands around. I do that when I'm especially excited.

I also looked up listening to the same song on repeat on one of the stimming tumblrs to be sure, and they said this about auditory stimming:

"[Auditory stimming includes] (Snapping fingers), tapping on objects, listening to the same song on a loop, rolling Rs, “cat noises”, repeating words, putting hands over ears, singing, [and] clicking tongue…"

I also like making cat noises just bc it's pleasing to my brain to hear them+sometimes I have to Make a Noise but I don't wanna talk, and I tap on objects in a rhythm if I'm bored.

Leg jiggling is another one that I do, tho not all the time.

Previous stims also included hair-twirling+sniffing for whatever reason--I guess bc I found the scent of my own hair reassuring in some way? I do it a lot less now, and I'm not sure if it's because my hair is a little shorter or what.

Eta link

 

I spun all the time as a kid! idk why i grew out of that one

I twirl with and tug on my hair quite a bit, but sniffing is only when i'm using a new hair product and am being constantly startled by New Smell until I acclimate

 

I have music, and also Thinking putty. I like the clear putty the best so far. Its like playing with liquid glass.

 

Cat noises!! Cat noises!!! I make cat noises all the time when I am not verbal enough to talk/just want to communicate things which cannot be translated to words well.

 

i have acquired a tangle! it's nice. I've been fidgeting with it since I got it....
I've been using two binder clips clipped together as a fidget. It makes a very satisfying noise :3
Other stims are petting soft things/pressing them to my face, twirling my hair and/or pressing it to my lips, leg jiggling..
when I'm trying to sleep lately I tend to.. flex my feet? like swing them at the ankles?
In class I constantly doodle or do origami. (Modular stuff is good for that because it's made of simple, easy to learn pieces and you need a lot of them to make a thing)
I also used to spin a lot, i ...think? And sucked on my fingers way past the acceptable age...

 

Question. Can people have stims if they aren't autistic, or is that just having a habit?

 

you can have stims if you aren't autistic.

 

Alrighty then.

I need to be doing things with my hands most of the time. "Snapping" my thumb and index finger (since I can't actually snap my fingers) is good when I don't have anything to fiddle with, or even just rubbing them together in circles. Clicky pens are good, and I have part of a pocket watch with gears I can spin. Plus several tokens and coins that have kind of a "worry stone" function. As long as I'm doing something im good.

Also. Instead of clapping, I tap the middle knuckles of my fingers together. It makes a nice knocking sound. Anyone else do this?

 

Ninja'd but just wanted to put in my proverbial two cents since I'm the OP: the reason why I put this thread in the brains subforum(?) instead of sperglord central is because many people engage in stimming, and I wanted a space where anyone could feel free to talk about their stims, regardless of neurotype! :>

Side note: I also have worry stone/comfort objects that I like to rub to calm down sometimes. I kinda wanna post pics of some of my comfort objects+stim toys at some point...