Who stims in public?

Post Reply New Topic

Does rocking back and forth count as stimming? I do that when I'm stressed on the train or just stressed in general

I never thought of it as a stim before but that's how I reacted to tiled floors in grocery stores as a kid. Well, except that they were close enough that I could walk my pattern without walking too funny. These days the most common thing I might start doing in public is walking on my toes.

I don't think i ever stop stimming. I am always rocking, leg jerking, holding my fingers straight out with my arms straight and walking fast, scribbing stars over and over to cover whole pages at uni and school, digging my nails into my palms, curling my toes under my feet while wearing shoes, rolling my head from side to side while i am thinking, rotating my feet in circles while laying down.

The list seems endless.

I stim in public, but the behaviours are different, allot less obvious and less useful.

Although when under allot of stress they blend together and I end up stimming quite obviously, I caught myself doing this at the store yesterday.

That's a big one with me, too. Floor patterns fascinate me, especially those sidewalk brick ones with two horizontal bricks and a vertical brick (know what I'm talking about?), then I really start walking funny.

I stim when I need to.

The arm waving is when I'm in a crowded place. Could be a supermarket, the foyer of a theatre, at a church, etc.

Hand shaking happens when I walk into town when I start noticing more people.

Hand flapping always has something to do with music and movement.

The less noticeable ones are head scratching, tongue flicking over teeth, legs shaking or finger tapping. By less noticable I mean people think it's just fidgeting.

I feel like out in public is the only place where I actually need to stim. Especially when I'm on a noisy train or in a crowded platform or cafeteria. When I'm by myself, I usually just fidget with a Rubik's cube and listen to music. I don't know if you'd call that stimming, but it helps me relax.

Yup, all the time. If something is upsetting or bothering me I will repeatedly scratch my left arm. If I am just walking and bored I will flip my keys in my hand or flap my hands, though I try to keep the hand flapping to a minimum. I also flap my hands if I just touched something I found unpleasant. If I am in a crowd I will rock back and forth, side to side, or bounce my leg. Rocking side to side really helps me concentrate and is a lot more comfortable if I am listening to a speaker. However I'm trying to figure something else to do because rocking is a bit strange. If I am excited or upset about something I will also bounce my leg.

Yes.
It's possible to suppress it when already dealing with all the input of public places?

I don't stim, period.

xkcd is so great.
(I feel like I have typed that exact sentence so many times, yet it still holds true.)

Sometimes. My most common stim is rubbing certain types of fabric between my thumb and index finger. Mostly I do this at home, but I do have a piece of fabric I keep with me in my pocket and if no ones around I will take it out.

I also shake my left wrist, rub my thumb into my palm, and rub my forehead or head when stressed. Again, I try to keep it at a minimum in public, but sometimes I can't help it or I just don't care.

I voted sometimes.

Yes it is possible to suppress your stims.

Until I was 11 years old I stimmed all the time in school and wherever else I went. I carried a string with me (or found a new one when they made me surrender the string I brought from home during school hours) scrunched up my face like a bunny rabbit and twirled the string in front of my face. I also spun and talked to myself for a very long time (at school, synagogue , wherever I was taken.....much to my mothers chagrin),. Now I play with the string at home in private (I've stopped spinning) but I do hum in public (although only in the crowded halls in school.........not in class or anything). Other than that my public stims are pretty common among NT's and are thus not noticeable (for example pacing, leg shaking etc........I do tend to do these a lot though)......

I find that makes me more stressed so when I begin to stim I don't stop myself.

I had an anti-flap stim today. I just couldn't move my arm. Couldn't even swing it. It just hung there like Gerry from Boston Legal. Or maybe that was because my medication wore off?

I dunno. I've noticed my body just tenses up when I suppress them so it's stiff. I keep my hands under my legs or I twirl my hands and when I stop my stims, I end up starting again without even thinking and there comes times when I don't even stim, same as when I am very upset. I found playing my Nintendo DS helps so I am not embarrassing myself. But I can suppress them if I try hard enough.