I hope you have as much fun watching this video as I did making it! It was an awesome opportunity to commit time to stimming, which was really helpful and fun for me. Happy stimming! 👋
swinging. holy shit. i was the MASTER of the swings, i would hog the same one every time and i never got bored of it. i would daydream while swinging and it was just awesome. i dont know how to describe it, i would just space out and the swinging helped somehow. i just thought i was weird and had a particular love for swings
I LOVE swinging. I used to look up at the sky and imagine I was flying through the air. Another way to swing that I like is listening to music with headphones and closing my eyes, then I really lean back and forth as I swing. The feelings are almost magical.
I just recently got diagnosed with autism and it’s such a relief. Stimm dancing and singing are most common with me! I work in a large grocery store and when it gets to stimulating, I begin to sing quietly to myself. I’ve had to mask my stim-dancing but sometimes I can’t. I love how I can relate to someone else. I feel more myself now
I have such a hard time not singing along or dancing in the store when good songs come on, I love stim singing and dancing, and now that I think about it, why should I mask who I am? I feel like I want to express myself more! and I think if you're comfortable and aren't hurting anyone you should express yourself too!
I love visual stims so much!!!! Fish tanks and the sequin fish and lava lamps and bubbles. Don’t know if other people relate to laying in weird places to get odd views or perspectives of spaces. Anyways, thank you so much for the stim guide, oh wise bean. This video is very happy-wiggle inducing. 💛🌼
I used to not know what stimming was and described it as satisfactory, alot of the times stimming helps with when i feel "over flowing with excitement" Or "getting me hyped up" Its interesting to learn it effects in other ways too! Crazy to learn some of my habits are just stims lol
I totally get the feeling of overflowing with excitement. Sometimes I can’t stim hard enough to get all the energy out, haha. Thanks for contributing to the conversation! 💙
I FEEL THIS!!!!! when I get overly excited or full of energy (or any big emotions) I hop around and flap my arms or rub my hands on my jeans repeatedly. I didn't know any of this was stimming until recently and it makes me feel good to know I'm not alone :)
I feel the same way, I thought they were just "childish" habits I needed to grow out of, but they aren't! they're great! and they make me happy so I shouldn't worry what other people think
i'm known among my friends for not being able to stand still when we're e.g. in a queue, or waiting for a bus, or whatever. i'm always bouncing around, skipping, doing little (or big) dance steps, tapping my feet, just anything but standing still. finally got my diagnosis 2 years ago (at 45), but only figured out that this is stimming a year later. these days, i stim a lot, and unabashedly. the diagnosis has "given me permission", in a way, to no longer hide it. it feels very freeing ^^
One atom that I've noticed lately is tracing letters with my fingers on my leg when I'm sitting and talking to someone. It helps me focus on the conversation and may also help me remember an important detail (I often find myself spelling out dates and names). Stimming can also be a warning sign that I'm getting overwhelmed. I notice that a lot with my humming stim. I'll often hum just a single note if I'm in a situation that's too loud. It seems to communicate the idea of, "it's too loud in here, I can't hear myself." Happy stimming everyone!
I love tracing letters! Sometimes I do something similar with my eyes, just “writing” into the air with my vision, if that makes sense. I understand the appeal. Thank you for sharing, happy stimming to you, too! 💕
Thank you for this lovely video and Thank you for reminding me how important movement is. Myself and my best friend have a big bubble blowing collection and we both adore glitter, gems and bright colours. I love ASMR videos witch stimulate and soothe me. Bubble wrap is amazing and I also love to eat crispy foods and find them very satisfying. I find the sound of being under water really soothing. I have a bag of makeup brushes that I use just to brush my skin . I don’t use them for makeup, I just like the softness and it relaxes me. I really love soft textures such as feathers, fleece and fur. I also have a thing for plastic items. I love to play with them and really enjoy the springy and durable texture. Thank you for sharing your stimming experiences and just how much pleasure and relaxation they can bring. 🥰🌈💚💫✨🌈
I may or may not have been tapping my feet together almost the entire video... I personally almost constantly fidget with various objects, such as repeatedly disassembling and reassembling a pen. I also love tying knots, and smelling certain scents, such as old books and wool fabrics. I also find going for walks in biting cold very comforting.
@@SpaceyAces It's so nice to see that one's comments are seen and appreciated on this channel! Also, I've thought of a couple of other things that sometimes function as stims for me. Similarly to singing, playing an instrument is great. Also, woodcarving and sewing is sometimes useful for releasing stress, and can be sort of meditative.
1) I grew up thinking I was neurotypical. 😂😂 2) I have always loved rocking (I prefer a rocking chair, but there isn't always one available.) 2) Trampolines are amazing, and I wish I had frequent access to one. 3) Bubbles are beautiful little miracles. 4) Every time I imagine my dream home, there's an enormous swing in the yard! Honorable mention: after raising 3 kids,I realized one day that I still swing/rock from side to side,as I did with fussy babies, when standing around. My youngest is 18... 🤷 Happy Pride Month, y'all! We are all valid! 🙏❤️🏳️🌈
Thanks for the comment! Rocking chairs are really the best... I'm super fortunate to have access to a big swing. Happy Pride Month right back at you, and happy stimming!!
I am only ADHD not autistic, but in the past couple years I've realized that I stim a lot. In particular my most noticeable stimming is my vocal echo stims. I will copy sounds most often, but sometimes I'll snag others' vocal stims too Because my only form of vocal stimming is rooted in echoing, it has to be exact, it doesn't scratch the itch otherwise. My brother is both ADHD and autistic, so sometimes he'll copy one of my stims, but bc he doesn't do it quite right I have to "correct" him by repeating it back lol. My most notable "stim stealing" as I like to call it, is with my mom. She's ADHD and I'm like 90% sure she's autistic too but there's no diagnosis yet. She'll pick up occasional vocal stims in general, and I'll end up echoing some I also sing a lot to stim, and again my echo stim makes me have to do it exactly as I hear it. Recently, I've gotten into AJR, and I watched a live of their song _Bang,_ and bc the singer didn't do it the exact same as he did in the official track, it bugged me lol. The only reason I know I'm not bad at singing is bc it's an echo stim for me lol. I'll echo my cat's meows and other various noises she makes, and bc I've had her for 11 years there's like no difference between hers and mine. I'm also ridiculously good at sound effects too My second most noticeable stim is picking, I pick at every imperfection in my skin if I don't actively try to stop it. It's a stim that I hate bc despite how satisfying it is, I really shouldn't do it. I'll also pick at others if given the chance, my cat makes sure to let me know when I do it tho lol Other than that I can't really pick out my other stims off the top of my head, tho I definitely do movement and vestibular stims a lot. In particular, I love swimming and body surfing bc of the feeling of forces acting on my body. The best part about fidget spinners when I tried them, was to really get them going and then move it around to feel how the spinning affected the other forces I'd act on it, like wobbling it midair Some of my other various stims: - The Perfect Bite™ is definitely a thing I do too - I love the smell of new books, or books that haven't been opened in a while, so nice - I love listening to music, this one song that gives me goosebumps is something I'll listen to just before bed - I love watching animatics all the time, and whatever I'm hyperfixated on, I'll find animatics of it and someone will earn an instant subscriber lol (or rather several someones, I watch a lot of animators lol) And that's all I can think of atm, I love infodumping about my stims lol
I love listening to everyone's infodumps about their stims!! (I hope you don't mind me info dumping right back at you, if you do, you obviously don't have to read it). Swimming is another great one; I'm actually a competitive swimmer, haha, and I'm especially good at doing things like flip turns (the somersaults on the walls, if you happen to be familiar) and kicking underwater. I also think it's super cool to hear about your big, neurodiverse family. I have a brother with speech apraxia and defiant behaviour, one with ADHD (and autism?), and one who definitely seems autistic, but not bothered enough by it to go through any sort of assessment, and my dad has a lot of ADHD traits, and my mom, after me, has started to notice her autistic traits... And we're all super close and have a pretty special *neurospicy* dynamic. My point being that I just love hearing about others' familial experience with neurodiversity because it is something that is super prevalent in my life, so hearing about your contagious stims are super cool! I have a lot of experience with skin-picking, so I understand that. If you're looking for any advice (if you're not, ignore this), finding healthier stims that fulfill a similar "urge" can help. And a Perfect Bite Buddy!!! I have been made fun of so much for this, haha, because I de- and re-construct my sandwiches to make sure I have the perfect proportions and eat them in a strategic way, but then they fall apart... I'm also an incredibly messy eater (spatial awareness not so great). Anyways, happy stimming!
@@SpaceyAces I've never done competitive swimming, but I was called a fish every year as a kid lol. From when I was 5 to about 12 part of my mom's family would go on vacation to the east coast, and let me tell you the ocean is amazing for vestibular stimming, I got really good at riding waves without a surfboard and it was always my favorite part We suspect that my sister is likely neurodivergent too (ADHD and autistic) but she's only 3 so no tests yet. I also have a great uncle who's definitely ADHD, while my mom got me into video gaming in general, he introduced me to a lot of my favorite games and I think I'm his favorite niece/nephew lol. At least, I was the only one of my gen of the family that he could stand at 7 years old I actually started a stim that all three of us do now. It's technically a word, but it registered as a sound in my brain so I copied it, causing my brother to copy me cuz he can, and after a lot of back and forth with that, we finally got my mom to join in lol. I'm the oldest of my siblings btw, I'm 18 and my brother is 9 I'm pretty good at dealing with my picking, it's just frustrating lol. I'm known for my slow eating, which I'm pretty sure is all bc of my Perfect Bite, and I was also a pretty picky eater as a kid. I mostly got made fun of for the speed that I ate rather than the way I went about it, but I have gotten weird looks and questions as I've gotten older and there's less "oh that's how kids are" lol Happy stimming to you too!
I'm neurotypical and don't know if this is a stim but when I was younger I would skip whenever and wherever I could. It made me feel so happy and just felt right.The up and down movement was so fun and I found it faster than walking. I later stopped since someone pointed it out as odd. I mean with one person skipping in school all cheerful compared to everyone walking and shuffling around I guess it did look odd. Also this video was so satisfying to watch and educational thank you for making it! Everything was fun to just watch and made me happy seeing someone else matching things in color order like I do :)
I'm neurodivergent and I've always though that I don't stim. Then you said about music. It hit me that I'll always repeat music in my head especially fast or exciting parts. Ive been doing it recently with Eminem's Godzilla. Then it came up as your stim song too. We do the same thing! Guess I do stim after all. 😃
as far as i know, i'm neurotypical, and i feel like stimming is an area where there is no excuse for neurotypical people to not understand neurodivergent people (not that there is ever one). i feel like it's a good place to start understanding between people regardless of how one's brain works because some neurotypicals (such as myself) do stimming as well! two more things: 1- i love your earrings. 2- what kind of dance do you do? i've also been a dancer my whole life! also, if you like focusing on the meditation aspect of dance, i recommend looking into indian classical dance (specifically bharatanatyam - no you do not need to be indian to do it!) it does involve some of this and it's in a non-religious way too. :)
I think you’re right! 1- And thank you, they’re octopus tentacles and I love them! 2- Yay, another dancer!! I do a variety of styles, mostly contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, and afrojazz (with some ballet more recently but I’m not very good at it, haha). My niche is contemporary/ hip hop with lots of tweaks and isolations. Thank you for the suggestion! That definitely sounds like something my teacher/studio would be interested in (they love incorporating different cultural dance styles and other meditative/ spiritual/ breathing techniques). ❤️
@@SpaceyAces haha i did see some very hip hop - like dance in this video. your isolations are so impressive! if you do try bharatanatyam some yt channels i recommend watching it on are navatman, indianraga if you want more fusion-type stuff, and also finding performances by jiva dance (not sure if they have a yt channel lol)
This is amazing!! I loved that I have so many of these in common with you. In terms of food stimming I love sour patch kids. The sour-sweet thing is really satisfying I feel. I don't dance but I've been playing music instruments since I was little and the one that I found best for stimming purposes is the trombone. It makes real funny noises and it's less about "this is correct and then it's beautiful and if its not it's horrific" (that was my problem with the violin but I'm still playing sometimes). Its more about every noise has some fun quality about it. If it's not beautiful and how I want it to sound, it's mostly funny and cracks me up or it's interesting.
Literally my coping mechanism is sudoku, I do it to calm down or get energized when I am puzzled with an issue. I set a sudoku level based on the difficulty of my problem. Had no idea it could count as stimming too!
Woah, thanks for sharing this! I wasn’t sure if others would relate, but as per the comments, it seems like sudoku specifically is a way of regulating that others use, too. Happy stimming!! 💕
I'm on a waiting list to be evaluated, my therapist and I think I either have some autism or ADHD and I've recently started going to OT to work through some negative sensory processing issues I have. I've only recently started to notice a lot of the things I do unconsciously to stim. From rocking (back and fourth if I'm stressed. Side to side if I'm happy), waving my arms, unconsciously feeling fabrics repetitively, sipping cool water to help regulate anxiety and an anxious tummy, to many other things that Im sure I'm blanking on at the moment. Thank you for this for explaining more ways I stim even if I don't realize it
5:40 it makes so much sense now, my friends always make jokes because i eat my donuts from the bottom to the top, but the topping just testes better, wow
Wait, I actually auditory stim all the time. I like to listen to videos of anything I find interesting, especially while playing games. I also have stim music choices such as Lo-Fi, Video Game OSTs, and funnily enough any song from My Little Pony.
At this point, I don't know whether or not I am neurodivergent, but I do find some parts of this video incredibly relatable. I... I don't even know where to start, honestly. Most of these tie into the fact that I like imagining things, stories and characters, and those actions just kinda help me get into the mood for it, stimulating my mind to wander off. Music - yes, please. Even more than that, whenever I listen to music, I just turn on that one song I really want to listen to in the moment, and then listen to it on the repeat over and over and over and over and over and you get the idea - to get a sequence of pictures and events conjured by my mind to go with that song, as a music video or something. Also, it's really hard for me to listen to songs that don't make me think of some specific story/character/vibe in my head, hence why I do not have a favourite musician and my playlist is a mess. Skipping and spinning and generally "running around bumping into walls" - oh boy, how many times people would point that out to me as "weird and would you please stop", because I tend to do that A LOT for as long as I can remember. I don't know, what is it about it, but fast erratic movement REALLY helps my brain to imagine, as if getting into the "action mood" or something. I also really like bubbles and textures (I remember, when I was in elementary school, there was one wall in the cafeteria, that was painted quite badly, with lil bubbles of hardened paint all over it, and I just hung out by that wall for as long as I could, because oh my god, how satysfying this texture was to touch!) and all sorts of visial stim toys and swinging (I also used to really like singing on the swings, like, out loud) and picking my lips or any other parts of the body where old skin comes off, and watching fish tanks... And I also talk to myself, when thoughts get to loud in my head, be it just me trying to think of something, or imagining character dialogue, which I even try roleplaying, when noone's around, kt really helps to get in touch with those thoughts. So... Yeah. I have A LOT of that.
I was SO excited to see that was a thing! I love singing along to music and making my own songs, I like singing about how I"m feeling. I don't record it or anything but it's kind of magic just making something just for you and just for a moment.
I did not know that what I was doing was stimming! I have always loved dancing, climbing, swinging ect. Tysm for this explanation!! Edit: I only knew of auditory stimming before (witch I was also doing)
I'm autistic and I realized recently that my brain has developed zero coping mechanisms for overstimulation and understimulation and just unpleasant experiences in general, so I'm trying to develop coping mechanisms on purpose now and I've found that stimming, especially vestibular stimming is really helpful for me for coping with unpleasant sensory experiences. I like videos like these because I want to try to find more ways to stim since not a lot of it comes naturally but it still helps when I do it on purpose
I'm really glad I found this video!! I didn't know what stimming was, and knowing that it's normal and can help your mental health and well being is great. I always thought I was "weird" and needed to hide these sides of me. But I like to dance weird, sing and brush my hair. I actually find that I like to most of the things you showed if not all. I guess I am learning to accept my autistic self more now as an adult!
It took me a while to learn that stuff I do that helps with ADHD was actually considered stimming. I’ve done most of the ones you’ve shown. My favorite ones and the ones I do the most are definitely different, my favorite is probably music, but I’m almost constantly tapping my fingertips against my palm in a repeated pattern, or tapping my foot. I honestly didn’t know some of the things shown in the video was stimming, I’ll have to remember that.
I don’t know if i’m neurodivergent or not, but i find myself stim A LOT. I always make this popping sound with my mouth and repeat phrases that i heard/came up with that sound nice, i always bounce my leg sometimes because i’m nervous but most of the times just because. The only harmful stims i have are biting my nails, picking on my skin on fingers and face and scratching my skin. I don’t really think i have any stims related to smell because my sense of smell is weird and most of the time i have an allergy or a cold so i can’t smell well. But i LOVE candles. Not with a specific smell, just candles. And campfires. Also, watching fire is really soothing to me. I also hang upside down on couches a lot, i didn’t know that was a form of stimming. So yeah. I find it fun, though it can be annoying to my mom sometimes
Ok so I’m like 98% sure I might have autism but my mom would never believe me so I never bring it up but this video is so fun and visually pleasing thank you sm
If you feel like you're autistic then trust your intuition! It doesn't matter who believes you, if it helps you make sense of who you are and helps you feel like you, then apply that label! I know that once I accepted my already diagnosed autism I felt a lot happier! Same with learning more about how I identify gender and orientation wise.
Hi! I love the vibes this video gave me. Also love your hair and shoes here😄 Thank you for making videos like this. You're doing an amazing job. This was very nice to watch. This channel is great!
I stim- but I also have characters in my comic that stim and I want to include stims I don't have to their body language- this videos giving me a lot of great ideas/motivation 💖💖💖
You're writing a comic?? That's so cool! I'm working on a comic too! Mine is about twin spies, I first made the characters when I was about 7, but now I'm revamping them at age 20. A lot of things have stayed the same with the characters but the adventures are all going to be brand new! If you don't mind sharing, what is your comic about?
@@wemadeyouasweaterlee Ohhhh! I’m so excited to see it if you’d be willing to share someday, mines about a merperson losing their friend and looking for them with a human during a war between the two, I’ve made videos about it but they’re very bad quality ☠️☠️☠️ I plan on posting it on Tapas someday (I couldn’t figure out how to squedule posts on Webtoon and that’s litterly the only reason I don’t plan on posting there lol), but I’ve gotten a bit behind on my thumbnailing 😬
@@mk-aka-morgan8386 That's SO cool! I love merpeople type stuff! I am thinking about scanning the physical drawings and stuff I have for my comic and then publishing them like a book through a self publishing website. I really like the hand drawn look. I'm kind of making more of a draft of it right now where it has all of the different movements I want and loose coloring. I would love to see yours too! Are your videos about it on your channel? or do you just have them.
I’m neurodivergant. The stim that involves saving the best bite of your food till last really resonates with me I do that with nearly everything I eat! I also stim with music. Another thing I do is stand on one leg and rub my foot on the back of my shin. So glad to have discovered your channel recently you are amazing, putting things in such a relatable and understandable way. Thank-you for helping me ‘get’ me.
I've always thought I was kinda problematic lol, except that my parents think that 'mEnTaL hEaLtH iS oVeRrAtEd' and didn't get me screened/tesed for anything. I've got a lot of stims though, and I'm pretty sure I'm neurodivergent but my parents don't want to hear it and still class all my stims as "problem habits that need to be kicked" even though I haven't been able to kick them all my life 🙄
the music stim one!!!! i found this one song recently, nobody by atronachs aura and it has this specific instrument in the background thats like a bubble pop/click noise and i love it so much
I think I might be neurodivergant (I’m a highly sensitive person and I’m not sure if that is under that umbrella or not…? 🤔) but either way I didn’t know what stimming was until recently and your video brought me a lot of happiness involving it! It just made me happy to see you enjoying yourself while stimming ☺️ Lately I’ve tried to let myself stim a lot more when I feel I want or need to, and it has really helped me deal with stress and anxieties in my life especially! Many of the stimming activities you mentioned here I like as well, though I find I typically tend to move my hands and feet or hum repetitive notes when I’m anxious. This comment got a little long, but it’s all just to say thank you for this video, it has helped me a lot 😊
I'm so happy my video helped you out! Stimming is just the best and I'm glad to hear other people embracing it in their lives. Also, I think "highly sensitive person" was a term someone coined to describe their kid who was later diagnosed as autistic, the idea being that someone is highly affected by the world in sensory, social, and emotional ways, which can oftentimes indicate autism or autistic traits. So I definitely think HSPs can fall under the neurodivergent umbrella, but that being an HSP indicates neurodivergence because of its parallels with other conditions (autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, etc). I don't know if this is useful to you, but that's just a fun fact/ analysis of HSPs!
@@SpaceyAces Stimming really is! Though I’ve found it can be hard to be comfortable stimming in public out of fear of being judged for it, starting to feel better about it myself is helping me get closer to a point where I can do that, and videos like this one has really helped a lot. ☺️ That’s really interesting, I didn’t know that was kind of where it started from!
Unfortunately I have really bad motion sickness, so I can't do a lot of the vestibular stimms without feeling very sick. Though I do love tree climbing and rocking myself. I like to sort things. But also putting together puzzles I have found to be very calming. I got a job at a library, orginizing books and such, and I love it, sorted books for three and a half hours without realising it because I was having so much fun. Another visual thing that I like is looking at trees, when I was a baby I'd always have people carry me around for hours so I could look up at the canopy moving. I do the same thing with food, especially in situations where there is more than one type of food on my plate. Or sometimes I need to cram food into my mouth to get the proper ratio of textures. Some of my favourite types of songs to stimm with are heavy metal, orchestral classic, the LOTR soundtrack, or the Doom Eternal soundtrack. Anything that I can get lost in going up and down with the music, orchestrating is all with my hands. Also, just making pleasant sounds repetitively is very nice. My favourite type of stimming is tactile. Running my hands against nice textures and such. Though I also pick at small imperfections on my skin subconciously, which makes having scabs and achene difficult and sometimes bloody. I have been considering getting myself a stimm toy to stop accidentally injuring myself. Going out in nature is one of the most calming places for me, especially if the sun is not out because I don't like sunlight. Another thing that I am not entirely sure where it fits. When I am happy I like to clap my fingers against my palms rhythmically. I am still trying to figure out a good way to describe it though, as I am a writer and I want one of my characters in my book to do it too but I can't fit it into a sentence right. Clapping hands doesn't work because it implies clapping opposite hands together, fluttering hands is closer but it doesn't include the clappy nature of it. Also also. All the stimm toys shown in the video were so pleasing to look at, they make me wish I had some.
Nice video! two of my favourite stims are knocking on objects to hear what sound they make (especially hollow ones like barrels, wooden boxes, chests) and drawing geometrical patterns into checkered notebooks and coloring them with markers (during class, it helps me stay more calm)
I love this video so much!! I’m starting to understand and appreciate stimming so much more lately. I’ve recently been really suspecting Audhd in myself. (I still need to do lots more research though.) It’s amazing to me how just a simple pop-it can help me feel so much better in certain waiting situations. And one of my favorite things lately is I got my first weighted plushie! He’s a hippo and I love him so much. He’s really soft, I love his texture, he’s very good to hug :]
This is such an amazing video!!! I loved the voice over and visuals and the information was also incredibly interesting, especially as a (probably) neurotypical person! I feel like this helped me understand stunning so much better!
This is a little thing but before I was diagnosed with ASD, I used to walk EVERYWHERE on my tippy-toes. It got to the point where my classmates would always ask if I wanted to be taller or something 😭
I used to do the tippy toes thing too! And I'm sorry the other kids were weird about it. Kids can be rude sometimes and not even realize it. You be you, because you is a great person to be :)
my most soothing stimuli are usually verbal, but at the same time, in my opinion/experience, they are the least socially accepted. it can really bother me sometimes, i can get away with a lot of stims just by saying it feels good to do that (just telling the truth) but whenever i feel particularly comfortable and i accidentally do a verbal stim , people will look at me funny.
Thank you for this video, I didn't know about stimming before! I also love music; and recently I've found that I greatly enjoy pen spinning as a way to release energy through my hands, although I don't know if that qualifies as stimming. I'm not even sure if I'm neurodivergent, but your positivity about it makes me feel a lot better; it's great to have validation on the things I thought only I did. Much love!
Pen-spinning is definitely a way of stimming! And I'm really glad to have provided information and validation to you; welcome to the stim family, haha. Thanks, happy stimming!!
@@SpaceyAces Good to know! Thanks for the warm welcome as well. This channel and all its members are a constant source of information and validation to me, you're doing a great job and I can't thank you all enough. Happy stimming as well!
I'm a professional swing hogger even though I'm sixteen. Like I find myself getting internally mad at little kids who are on the swings! Trampolines are also great, I don't jump but I walk in a circle. I've noticed I love walking despite my severely flat feet. And my stim dances involve a lot of hand flapping and spinning. I didn't line things up but as a kid (and now) I stack things up!
Sometimes it's different tingles along my body or in my brain, other times it's like a big pit in my stomach. When stimming with some of the really nice sensations, I forget about my normal state of being and don't feel any pain or nausea.
The first time I heard about stimming was in 2016 Action-Adventure movie with Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, et al, The Accountant. Title character is autistic and highly effective in several disciplines including math/accounting & martial arts. I love how he uses his "unique skill set" (homage Liam Neeson) to bring down powerful evil abusers & help good salt-of-the-earth folks.
When I see you stimming, it reminds me you're a little different, but not in a negative way. My first reaction seeing stimming is "that's unusual." Butl I don't see a joke, a chance to bully, or a weirdo to alienate; I see someone to applaud (not literally), to protect, to keep them from being attacked or hushed or manipulated. Glad she put the doctor in his place... You're awesome.
Oh my GOSH! I just watched the accountant for the first time about a month ago and I really liked it! I was so excited to see your comment mentioning it!
where do you get all your octopi stuffies from? i have a pretty huge fascination and obsession for those animals and i'd really love to have one big octopus to cuddle with
Hi! Most of them are Jellycat stuffies that I’ve gotten through Indigo or local toy stores. The big one was a gift, that I believe was ordered through an Etsy shop. 🐙
I have an involuntary verbal stim (at least I think it would be called a stim) where I make a sudden cat-like chirp when I'm happy or see something cute. Would this be considered a stim or a tick?
If it is actually involuntary, then I believe it would be a tic. If it is more like subconscious (as in, you might not actively think "I'm going to chirp," but it is something you could NOT do) rather than involuntary it is more likely a stim.
I feel like it's a stim. I have a lot of verbal stims that I do. I get a little clip of something in my head and I just have to say it or sing it or whatever it is.
My mom tells me that I’m just trying to be or look “autistic” when I’m stiming and that I never did when I was younger(I did) even though you don’t have to be autistic to stim. I flap my hands and jump around to stim
Aw man, I'm sorry your mom talked to you like that. It's okay even if you did look "Autistic". You should feel free to do what makes you happy and feel safe regardless of how you look to others who don't get it.
I have so many auditory stims, like random noises ane repeating words that sound good, i like to sing a lot too but i try not to do it around people :/
i don’t know if i’m neurodivergent(i suck at spelling) I mean i dont even really know what that means but I have a lot of the things that I know of, like stimming, I do almost all of these except when im in public im very self conscious about it so i end up ripping at my skin. Anywayyyy could someone tell me exactly what neurodivergent is, would really appreciate it.
Hi! "Neurodivergent" is a descriptor for anyone whose neurotype differs from that of the typical. More specifically, it means that you perceive, sense, interact with, and experience the world differently. It was originally used to describe autistic people, but has since become a broad descriptor covering other things, like ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, OCD, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy, dissociative and personality disorders, and mental illnesses. Also, I can relate to hiding stimming in public. For me, it's part of the reason I get so overwhelmed, which has lead me to (semi-graphic description warning) scratch my skin until it bleeds. Using healthier forms of stimming has helped with this for me. I hope that you can find better ways to express that energy, too.
What is the term for me? I am asexual but I'm attracted to guys for effection. My friend said I'm probably a "homo romantic asexual" but I don't feel comfortable with that term. Is there a term for an asexual person that enjoys platonic affection (hugs and Cuddles with clothes on) but not necessarily romantic
Hi! I obviously can't tell you which descriptors are right for you, but maybe I can help. In the ace community in particular, some people choose to specifically label their platonic attraction (such as being aplatonic). You could apply this to any prefix (ex: homoplatonic). Otherwise, you could say you experience queerplatonic/ quasiplatonic attraction for those of a particular gender. Queerplatonic means somewhere between platonic and romantic, but also can be distinct. Queerplatonic relationships (QPRs) are popular for those who are aromantic because they often involve a close, co-dependent relationship that is not romantic by nature (we have a video about them on our channel!). You may also want to look into sensual attraction. It's a term often used to describe the desire for closeness and (nonsexual and not necessarily romantic) physical affection, like hugs and cuddles. In the case that you know you feel SOMETHING for guys, but are unsure what, there are terms such as "angled-aroace," and "oriented-aroace," that describe people who have a non-sexual/ romantic orientation that is significant enough to warrant a spot in their label (ex: pan-oriented aroace). Hope this is useful!
I love those too! I don't really know how to do ballet, but I love pretending I'm a ballerina. I like the costumes and how the dancers seem so fluid with their movement.
I hope you have as much fun watching this video as I did making it! It was an awesome opportunity to commit time to stimming, which was really helpful and fun for me. Happy stimming! 👋
I really appreciate this education. Happy stimming ✌
swinging. holy shit. i was the MASTER of the swings, i would hog the same one every time and i never got bored of it. i would daydream while swinging and it was just awesome. i dont know how to describe it, i would just space out and the swinging helped somehow. i just thought i was weird and had a particular love for swings
Yessss, swings for the win!!!! Weird swing kids unite, haha.
I LOVE swinging. I used to look up at the sky and imagine I was flying through the air. Another way to swing that I like is listening to music with headphones and closing my eyes, then I really lean back and forth as I swing. The feelings are almost magical.
I'm not autistic or neurodivergent at all, but I also do the majority of these :) Bubbles are INCREDIBLE!!
Yes, bubbles > everything that’s not bubbles. It’s cool to hear about stimming from neurotypical people, too, so thanks for sharing! 💕
I just recently got diagnosed with autism and it’s such a relief. Stimm dancing and singing are most common with me! I work in a large grocery store and when it gets to stimulating, I begin to sing quietly to myself. I’ve had to mask my stim-dancing but sometimes I can’t. I love how I can relate to someone else. I feel more myself now
Hi! I'm so happy you now feel more yourself. Thank you for this comment (it made me happy).
I have such a hard time not singing along or dancing in the store when good songs come on, I love stim singing and dancing, and now that I think about it, why should I mask who I am? I feel like I want to express myself more! and I think if you're comfortable and aren't hurting anyone you should express yourself too!
I love visual stims so much!!!! Fish tanks and the sequin fish and lava lamps and bubbles. Don’t know if other people relate to laying in weird places to get odd views or perspectives of spaces. Anyways, thank you so much for the stim guide, oh wise bean. This video is very happy-wiggle inducing. 💛🌼
Hehe… *flap flap* Those things are so pretty! And funky angle-seeking is a good addition to the stim list! 🥰
I relate
I used to not know what stimming was and described it as satisfactory, alot of the times stimming helps with when i feel "over flowing with excitement"
Or "getting me hyped up"
Its interesting to learn it effects in other ways too!
Crazy to learn some of my habits are just stims lol
I totally get the feeling of overflowing with excitement. Sometimes I can’t stim hard enough to get all the energy out, haha. Thanks for contributing to the conversation! 💙
I FEEL THIS!!!!! when I get overly excited or full of energy (or any big emotions) I hop around and flap my arms or rub my hands on my jeans repeatedly. I didn't know any of this was stimming until recently and it makes me feel good to know I'm not alone :)
I feel the same way, I thought they were just "childish" habits I needed to grow out of, but they aren't! they're great! and they make me happy so I shouldn't worry what other people think
i'm known among my friends for not being able to stand still when we're e.g. in a queue, or waiting for a bus, or whatever. i'm always bouncing around, skipping, doing little (or big) dance steps, tapping my feet, just anything but standing still. finally got my diagnosis 2 years ago (at 45), but only figured out that this is stimming a year later.
these days, i stim a lot, and unabashedly. the diagnosis has "given me permission", in a way, to no longer hide it. it feels very freeing ^^
One atom that I've noticed lately is tracing letters with my fingers on my leg when I'm sitting and talking to someone. It helps me focus on the conversation and may also help me remember an important detail (I often find myself spelling out dates and names). Stimming can also be a warning sign that I'm getting overwhelmed. I notice that a lot with my humming stim. I'll often hum just a single note if I'm in a situation that's too loud. It seems to communicate the idea of, "it's too loud in here, I can't hear myself." Happy stimming everyone!
I love tracing letters! Sometimes I do something similar with my eyes, just “writing” into the air with my vision, if that makes sense. I understand the appeal. Thank you for sharing, happy stimming to you, too! 💕
Thank you for this lovely video and Thank you for reminding me how important movement is. Myself and my best friend have a big bubble blowing collection and we both adore glitter, gems and bright colours. I love ASMR videos witch stimulate and soothe me. Bubble wrap is amazing and I also love to eat crispy foods and find them very satisfying. I find the sound of being under water really soothing. I have a bag of makeup brushes that I use just to brush my skin . I don’t use them for makeup, I just like the softness and it relaxes me. I really love soft textures such as feathers, fleece and fur. I also have a thing for plastic items. I love to play with them and really enjoy the springy and durable texture. Thank you for sharing your stimming experiences and just how much pleasure and relaxation they can bring. 🥰🌈💚💫✨🌈
I may or may not have been tapping my feet together almost the entire video...
I personally almost constantly fidget with various objects, such as repeatedly disassembling and reassembling a pen. I also love tying knots, and smelling certain scents, such as old books and wool fabrics. I also find going for walks in biting cold very comforting.
Woah, these are some great examples that I didn’t even think of! Thanks for adding! 💜
@@SpaceyAces It's so nice to see that one's comments are seen and appreciated on this channel!
Also, I've thought of a couple of other things that sometimes function as stims for me. Similarly to singing, playing an instrument is great. Also, woodcarving and sewing is sometimes useful for releasing stress, and can be sort of meditative.
Yes, pens. I completely forgot to mention disemboweling pens.
1) I grew up thinking I was neurotypical. 😂😂 2) I have always loved rocking (I prefer a rocking chair, but there isn't always one available.) 2) Trampolines are amazing, and I wish I had frequent access to one. 3) Bubbles are beautiful little miracles. 4) Every time I imagine my dream home, there's an enormous swing in the yard! Honorable mention: after raising 3 kids,I realized one day that I still swing/rock from side to side,as I did with fussy babies, when standing around. My youngest is 18... 🤷
Happy Pride Month, y'all! We are all valid!
🙏❤️🏳️🌈
Thanks for the comment! Rocking chairs are really the best... I'm super fortunate to have access to a big swing. Happy Pride Month right back at you, and happy stimming!!
I am only ADHD not autistic, but in the past couple years I've realized that I stim a lot. In particular my most noticeable stimming is my vocal echo stims. I will copy sounds most often, but sometimes I'll snag others' vocal stims too
Because my only form of vocal stimming is rooted in echoing, it has to be exact, it doesn't scratch the itch otherwise. My brother is both ADHD and autistic, so sometimes he'll copy one of my stims, but bc he doesn't do it quite right I have to "correct" him by repeating it back lol. My most notable "stim stealing" as I like to call it, is with my mom. She's ADHD and I'm like 90% sure she's autistic too but there's no diagnosis yet. She'll pick up occasional vocal stims in general, and I'll end up echoing some
I also sing a lot to stim, and again my echo stim makes me have to do it exactly as I hear it. Recently, I've gotten into AJR, and I watched a live of their song _Bang,_ and bc the singer didn't do it the exact same as he did in the official track, it bugged me lol. The only reason I know I'm not bad at singing is bc it's an echo stim for me lol. I'll echo my cat's meows and other various noises she makes, and bc I've had her for 11 years there's like no difference between hers and mine. I'm also ridiculously good at sound effects too
My second most noticeable stim is picking, I pick at every imperfection in my skin if I don't actively try to stop it. It's a stim that I hate bc despite how satisfying it is, I really shouldn't do it. I'll also pick at others if given the chance, my cat makes sure to let me know when I do it tho lol
Other than that I can't really pick out my other stims off the top of my head, tho I definitely do movement and vestibular stims a lot. In particular, I love swimming and body surfing bc of the feeling of forces acting on my body. The best part about fidget spinners when I tried them, was to really get them going and then move it around to feel how the spinning affected the other forces I'd act on it, like wobbling it midair
Some of my other various stims:
- The Perfect Bite™ is definitely a thing I do too
- I love the smell of new books, or books that haven't been opened in a while, so nice
- I love listening to music, this one song that gives me goosebumps is something I'll listen to just before bed
- I love watching animatics all the time, and whatever I'm hyperfixated on, I'll find animatics of it and someone will earn an instant subscriber lol (or rather several someones, I watch a lot of animators lol)
And that's all I can think of atm, I love infodumping about my stims lol
I love listening to everyone's infodumps about their stims!! (I hope you don't mind me info dumping right back at you, if you do, you obviously don't have to read it). Swimming is another great one; I'm actually a competitive swimmer, haha, and I'm especially good at doing things like flip turns (the somersaults on the walls, if you happen to be familiar) and kicking underwater.
I also think it's super cool to hear about your big, neurodiverse family. I have a brother with speech apraxia and defiant behaviour, one with ADHD (and autism?), and one who definitely seems autistic, but not bothered enough by it to go through any sort of assessment, and my dad has a lot of ADHD traits, and my mom, after me, has started to notice her autistic traits... And we're all super close and have a pretty special *neurospicy* dynamic. My point being that I just love hearing about others' familial experience with neurodiversity because it is something that is super prevalent in my life, so hearing about your contagious stims are super cool!
I have a lot of experience with skin-picking, so I understand that. If you're looking for any advice (if you're not, ignore this), finding healthier stims that fulfill a similar "urge" can help.
And a Perfect Bite Buddy!!! I have been made fun of so much for this, haha, because I de- and re-construct my sandwiches to make sure I have the perfect proportions and eat them in a strategic way, but then they fall apart... I'm also an incredibly messy eater (spatial awareness not so great).
Anyways, happy stimming!
@@SpaceyAces I've never done competitive swimming, but I was called a fish every year as a kid lol. From when I was 5 to about 12 part of my mom's family would go on vacation to the east coast, and let me tell you the ocean is amazing for vestibular stimming, I got really good at riding waves without a surfboard and it was always my favorite part
We suspect that my sister is likely neurodivergent too (ADHD and autistic) but she's only 3 so no tests yet. I also have a great uncle who's definitely ADHD, while my mom got me into video gaming in general, he introduced me to a lot of my favorite games and I think I'm his favorite niece/nephew lol. At least, I was the only one of my gen of the family that he could stand at 7 years old
I actually started a stim that all three of us do now. It's technically a word, but it registered as a sound in my brain so I copied it, causing my brother to copy me cuz he can, and after a lot of back and forth with that, we finally got my mom to join in lol. I'm the oldest of my siblings btw, I'm 18 and my brother is 9
I'm pretty good at dealing with my picking, it's just frustrating lol. I'm known for my slow eating, which I'm pretty sure is all bc of my Perfect Bite, and I was also a pretty picky eater as a kid. I mostly got made fun of for the speed that I ate rather than the way I went about it, but I have gotten weird looks and questions as I've gotten older and there's less "oh that's how kids are" lol
Happy stimming to you too!
I'm neurotypical and don't know if this is a stim but when I was younger I would skip whenever and wherever I could. It made me feel so happy and just felt right.The up and down movement was so fun and I found it faster than walking. I later stopped since someone pointed it out as odd. I mean with one person skipping in school all cheerful compared to everyone walking and shuffling around I guess it did look odd.
Also this video was so satisfying to watch and educational thank you for making it! Everything was fun to just watch and made me happy seeing someone else matching things in color order like I do :)
Skipping can definitely be a stim! I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and thank you for the lovely feedback. This comment made me very happy.
I also used to skip all over the place, until my teacher pointed it out in front of the whole class...
Wait i used to skip all the time its just so fun but i guess i grew out of it lol
I loved skipping, and still do. You're not odd, you're unique! I think that's great!!
I'm neurodivergent and I've always though that I don't stim. Then you said about music. It hit me that I'll always repeat music in my head especially fast or exciting parts. Ive been doing it recently with Eminem's Godzilla. Then it came up as your stim song too. We do the same thing! Guess I do stim after all. 😃
That’s so cool!!! Stim song buddies! 😁
@@SpaceyAces Stim Song Buddies!
as far as i know, i'm neurotypical, and i feel like stimming is an area where there is no excuse for neurotypical people to not understand neurodivergent people (not that there is ever one). i feel like it's a good place to start understanding between people regardless of how one's brain works because some neurotypicals (such as myself) do stimming as well!
two more things: 1- i love your earrings. 2- what kind of dance do you do? i've also been a dancer my whole life! also, if you like focusing on the meditation aspect of dance, i recommend looking into indian classical dance (specifically bharatanatyam - no you do not need to be indian to do it!) it does involve some of this and it's in a non-religious way too. :)
I think you’re right! 1- And thank you, they’re octopus tentacles and I love them! 2- Yay, another dancer!! I do a variety of styles, mostly contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, and afrojazz (with some ballet more recently but I’m not very good at it, haha). My niche is contemporary/ hip hop with lots of tweaks and isolations. Thank you for the suggestion! That definitely sounds like something my teacher/studio would be interested in (they love incorporating different cultural dance styles and other meditative/ spiritual/ breathing techniques). ❤️
@@SpaceyAces haha i did see some very hip hop - like dance in this video. your isolations are so impressive! if you do try bharatanatyam some yt channels i recommend watching it on are navatman, indianraga if you want more fusion-type stuff, and also finding performances by jiva dance (not sure if they have a yt channel lol)
@pancake Thank you so much for the resources!
@@SpaceyAces of course! please update me!
This is amazing!! I loved that I have so many of these in common with you. In terms of food stimming I love sour patch kids. The sour-sweet thing is really satisfying I feel. I don't dance but I've been playing music instruments since I was little and the one that I found best for stimming purposes is the trombone. It makes real funny noises and it's less about "this is correct and then it's beautiful and if its not it's horrific" (that was my problem with the violin but I'm still playing sometimes). Its more about every noise has some fun quality about it. If it's not beautiful and how I want it to sound, it's mostly funny and cracks me up or it's interesting.
Literally my coping mechanism is sudoku, I do it to calm down or get energized when I am puzzled with an issue. I set a sudoku level based on the difficulty of my problem. Had no idea it could count as stimming too!
Woah, thanks for sharing this! I wasn’t sure if others would relate, but as per the comments, it seems like sudoku specifically is a way of regulating that others use, too. Happy stimming!! 💕
Rocking is also one of my favourite stims!
I'm on a waiting list to be evaluated, my therapist and I think I either have some autism or ADHD and I've recently started going to OT to work through some negative sensory processing issues I have.
I've only recently started to notice a lot of the things I do unconsciously to stim. From rocking (back and fourth if I'm stressed. Side to side if I'm happy), waving my arms, unconsciously feeling fabrics repetitively, sipping cool water to help regulate anxiety and an anxious tummy, to many other things that Im sure I'm blanking on at the moment.
Thank you for this for explaining more ways I stim even if I don't realize it
5:40 it makes so much sense now, my friends always make jokes because i eat my donuts from the bottom to the top, but the topping just testes better, wow
I stim with music and I pick at my lips and skin too, I didn’t know other people did that!
We’re like a little stimmy club! ❤️
I loved your dancing! I thought it was super cool and fun!
Thank you so much!!
Wait, I actually auditory stim all the time. I like to listen to videos of anything I find interesting, especially while playing games. I also have stim music choices such as Lo-Fi, Video Game OSTs, and funnily enough any song from My Little Pony.
At this point, I don't know whether or not I am neurodivergent, but I do find some parts of this video incredibly relatable. I... I don't even know where to start, honestly. Most of these tie into the fact that I like imagining things, stories and characters, and those actions just kinda help me get into the mood for it, stimulating my mind to wander off.
Music - yes, please. Even more than that, whenever I listen to music, I just turn on that one song I really want to listen to in the moment, and then listen to it on the repeat over and over and over and over and over and you get the idea - to get a sequence of pictures and events conjured by my mind to go with that song, as a music video or something. Also, it's really hard for me to listen to songs that don't make me think of some specific story/character/vibe in my head, hence why I do not have a favourite musician and my playlist is a mess.
Skipping and spinning and generally "running around bumping into walls" - oh boy, how many times people would point that out to me as "weird and would you please stop", because I tend to do that A LOT for as long as I can remember. I don't know, what is it about it, but fast erratic movement REALLY helps my brain to imagine, as if getting into the "action mood" or something.
I also really like bubbles and textures (I remember, when I was in elementary school, there was one wall in the cafeteria, that was painted quite badly, with lil bubbles of hardened paint all over it, and I just hung out by that wall for as long as I could, because oh my god, how satysfying this texture was to touch!) and all sorts of visial stim toys and swinging (I also used to really like singing on the swings, like, out loud) and picking my lips or any other parts of the body where old skin comes off, and watching fish tanks... And I also talk to myself, when thoughts get to loud in my head, be it just me trying to think of something, or imagining character dialogue, which I even try roleplaying, when noone's around, kt really helps to get in touch with those thoughts. So... Yeah. I have A LOT of that.
it was only a few months ago that i realized that vocal stims exist!! so nice to know that the things that soothe me soothe others as well.
I was SO excited to see that was a thing! I love singing along to music and making my own songs, I like singing about how I"m feeling. I don't record it or anything but it's kind of magic just making something just for you and just for a moment.
I did not know that what I was doing was stimming! I have always loved dancing, climbing, swinging ect. Tysm for this explanation!!
Edit: I only knew of auditory stimming before (witch I was also doing)
I'm autistic and I realized recently that my brain has developed zero coping mechanisms for overstimulation and understimulation and just unpleasant experiences in general, so I'm trying to develop coping mechanisms on purpose now and I've found that stimming, especially vestibular stimming is really helpful for me for coping with unpleasant sensory experiences. I like videos like these because I want to try to find more ways to stim since not a lot of it comes naturally but it still helps when I do it on purpose
That's great that you're trying to find more ways! I hope that you can find all of the best ways that work for you :)
I'm really glad I found this video!! I didn't know what stimming was, and knowing that it's normal and can help your mental health and well being is great. I always thought I was "weird" and needed to hide these sides of me. But I like to dance weird, sing and brush my hair. I actually find that I like to most of the things you showed if not all. I guess I am learning to accept my autistic self more now as an adult!
you are an INCREDIBLE dancer OML-
This comment made me very happy 🥰. Thank you!! ❤️
@@SpaceyAces omG im glad I made you happy you made me happy too! lol I wish I could dance like you tho-
It took me a while to learn that stuff I do that helps with ADHD was actually considered stimming. I’ve done most of the ones you’ve shown. My favorite ones and the ones I do the most are definitely different, my favorite is probably music, but I’m almost constantly tapping my fingertips against my palm in a repeated pattern, or tapping my foot. I honestly didn’t know some of the things shown in the video was stimming, I’ll have to remember that.
I don’t know if i’m neurodivergent or not, but i find myself stim A LOT. I always make this popping sound with my mouth and repeat phrases that i heard/came up with that sound nice, i always bounce my leg sometimes because i’m nervous but most of the times just because. The only harmful stims i have are biting my nails, picking on my skin on fingers and face and scratching my skin. I don’t really think i have any stims related to smell because my sense of smell is weird and most of the time i have an allergy or a cold so i can’t smell well. But i LOVE candles. Not with a specific smell, just candles. And campfires. Also, watching fire is really soothing to me. I also hang upside down on couches a lot, i didn’t know that was a form of stimming.
So yeah. I find it fun, though it can be annoying to my mom sometimes
You stole my brain :(, Haha.
Ok so I’m like 98% sure I might have autism but my mom would never believe me so I never bring it up but this video is so fun and visually pleasing thank you sm
If you feel like you're autistic then trust your intuition! It doesn't matter who believes you, if it helps you make sense of who you are and helps you feel like you, then apply that label! I know that once I accepted my already diagnosed autism I felt a lot happier! Same with learning more about how I identify gender and orientation wise.
Hi!
I love the vibes this video gave me. Also love your hair and shoes here😄
Thank you for making videos like this. You're doing an amazing job. This was very nice to watch. This channel is great!
Aww, thank you so much!! I'm glad you liked it!
I stim- but I also have characters in my comic that stim and I want to include stims I don't have to their body language- this videos giving me a lot of great ideas/motivation 💖💖💖
You're writing a comic?? That's so cool! I'm working on a comic too! Mine is about twin spies, I first made the characters when I was about 7, but now I'm revamping them at age 20. A lot of things have stayed the same with the characters but the adventures are all going to be brand new! If you don't mind sharing, what is your comic about?
@@wemadeyouasweaterlee Ohhhh! I’m so excited to see it if you’d be willing to share someday, mines about a merperson losing their friend and looking for them with a human during a war between the two, I’ve made videos about it but they’re very bad quality ☠️☠️☠️ I plan on posting it on Tapas someday (I couldn’t figure out how to squedule posts on Webtoon and that’s litterly the only reason I don’t plan on posting there lol), but I’ve gotten a bit behind on my thumbnailing 😬
@@mk-aka-morgan8386 That's SO cool! I love merpeople type stuff! I am thinking about scanning the physical drawings and stuff I have for my comic and then publishing them like a book through a self publishing website. I really like the hand drawn look. I'm kind of making more of a draft of it right now where it has all of the different movements I want and loose coloring. I would love to see yours too! Are your videos about it on your channel? or do you just have them.
I’m neurodivergant. The stim that involves saving the best bite of your food till last really resonates with me I do that with nearly everything I eat! I also stim with music. Another thing I do is stand on one leg and rub my foot on the back of my shin. So glad to have discovered your channel recently you are amazing, putting things in such a relatable and understandable way. Thank-you for helping me ‘get’ me.
I've always thought I was kinda problematic lol, except that my parents think that 'mEnTaL hEaLtH iS oVeRrAtEd' and didn't get me screened/tesed for anything. I've got a lot of stims though, and I'm pretty sure I'm neurodivergent but my parents don't want to hear it and still class all my stims as "problem habits that need to be kicked" even though I haven't been able to kick them all my life 🙄
the music stim one!!!! i found this one song recently, nobody by atronachs aura and it has this specific instrument in the background thats like a bubble pop/click noise and i love it so much
Oooh, I should listen to that!!
some of my favorite stims are buzzing my lips, snapping in a specific 4/3 pattern, rubbing my fingertips together, and eating bits of salt and sugar!
I think I might be neurodivergant (I’m a highly sensitive person and I’m not sure if that is under that umbrella or not…? 🤔) but either way I didn’t know what stimming was until recently and your video brought me a lot of happiness involving it! It just made me happy to see you enjoying yourself while stimming ☺️ Lately I’ve tried to let myself stim a lot more when I feel I want or need to, and it has really helped me deal with stress and anxieties in my life especially! Many of the stimming activities you mentioned here I like as well, though I find I typically tend to move my hands and feet or hum repetitive notes when I’m anxious. This comment got a little long, but it’s all just to say thank you for this video, it has helped me a lot 😊
I'm so happy my video helped you out! Stimming is just the best and I'm glad to hear other people embracing it in their lives.
Also, I think "highly sensitive person" was a term someone coined to describe their kid who was later diagnosed as autistic, the idea being that someone is highly affected by the world in sensory, social, and emotional ways, which can oftentimes indicate autism or autistic traits. So I definitely think HSPs can fall under the neurodivergent umbrella, but that being an HSP indicates neurodivergence because of its parallels with other conditions (autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, etc). I don't know if this is useful to you, but that's just a fun fact/ analysis of HSPs!
@@SpaceyAces Stimming really is! Though I’ve found it can be hard to be comfortable stimming in public out of fear of being judged for it, starting to feel better about it myself is helping me get closer to a point where I can do that, and videos like this one has really helped a lot. ☺️
That’s really interesting, I didn’t know that was kind of where it started from!
Unfortunately I have really bad motion sickness, so I can't do a lot of the vestibular stimms without feeling very sick. Though I do love tree climbing and rocking myself.
I like to sort things. But also putting together puzzles I have found to be very calming. I got a job at a library, orginizing books and such, and I love it, sorted books for three and a half hours without realising it because I was having so much fun. Another visual thing that I like is looking at trees, when I was a baby I'd always have people carry me around for hours so I could look up at the canopy moving.
I do the same thing with food, especially in situations where there is more than one type of food on my plate. Or sometimes I need to cram food into my mouth to get the proper ratio of textures.
Some of my favourite types of songs to stimm with are heavy metal, orchestral classic, the LOTR soundtrack, or the Doom Eternal soundtrack. Anything that I can get lost in going up and down with the music, orchestrating is all with my hands. Also, just making pleasant sounds repetitively is very nice.
My favourite type of stimming is tactile. Running my hands against nice textures and such. Though I also pick at small imperfections on my skin subconciously, which makes having scabs and achene difficult and sometimes bloody. I have been considering getting myself a stimm toy to stop accidentally injuring myself.
Going out in nature is one of the most calming places for me, especially if the sun is not out because I don't like sunlight.
Another thing that I am not entirely sure where it fits. When I am happy I like to clap my fingers against my palms rhythmically. I am still trying to figure out a good way to describe it though, as I am a writer and I want one of my characters in my book to do it too but I can't fit it into a sentence right. Clapping hands doesn't work because it implies clapping opposite hands together, fluttering hands is closer but it doesn't include the clappy nature of it.
Also also. All the stimm toys shown in the video were so pleasing to look at, they make me wish I had some.
Nice video!
two of my favourite stims are knocking on objects to hear what sound they make (especially hollow ones like barrels, wooden boxes, chests)
and drawing geometrical patterns into checkered notebooks and coloring them with markers (during class, it helps me stay more calm)
Yes, I love drawing/ colouring geometric patterns, too!
I love this video so much!!
I’m starting to understand and appreciate stimming so much more lately. I’ve recently been really suspecting Audhd in myself. (I still need to do lots more research though.) It’s amazing to me how just a simple pop-it can help me feel so much better in certain waiting situations. And one of my favorite things lately is I got my first weighted plushie! He’s a hippo and I love him so much. He’s really soft, I love his texture, he’s very good to hug :]
This is such an amazing video!!! I loved the voice over and visuals and the information was also incredibly interesting, especially as a (probably) neurotypical person! I feel like this helped me understand stunning so much better!
This is a little thing but before I was diagnosed with ASD, I used to walk EVERYWHERE on my tippy-toes. It got to the point where my classmates would always ask if I wanted to be taller or something 😭
I used to do the tippy toes thing too! And I'm sorry the other kids were weird about it. Kids can be rude sometimes and not even realize it. You be you, because you is a great person to be :)
my most soothing stimuli are usually verbal, but at the same time, in my opinion/experience, they are the least socially accepted. it can really bother me sometimes, i can get away with a lot of stims just by saying it feels good to do that (just telling the truth) but whenever i feel particularly comfortable and i accidentally do a verbal stim , people will look at me funny.
Thank you for this video, I didn't know about stimming before! I also love music; and recently I've found that I greatly enjoy pen spinning as a way to release energy through my hands, although I don't know if that qualifies as stimming. I'm not even sure if I'm neurodivergent, but your positivity about it makes me feel a lot better; it's great to have validation on the things I thought only I did. Much love!
Pen-spinning is definitely a way of stimming! And I'm really glad to have provided information and validation to you; welcome to the stim family, haha. Thanks, happy stimming!!
@@SpaceyAces Good to know! Thanks for the warm welcome as well. This channel and all its members are a constant source of information and validation to me, you're doing a great job and I can't thank you all enough. Happy stimming as well!
This is an excellent video. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! 💕
I'm a professional swing hogger even though I'm sixteen. Like I find myself getting internally mad at little kids who are on the swings! Trampolines are also great, I don't jump but I walk in a circle.
I've noticed I love walking despite my severely flat feet. And my stim dances involve a lot of hand flapping and spinning. I didn't line things up but as a kid (and now) I stack things up!
For me shimming is like butterflies in my stomach and a rising sensation. I love to stim!
My main stim is dancing!!! Yay 😍💖💕
Dancing is the BEST!! ❤️
Sometimes it's different tingles along my body or in my brain, other times it's like a big pit in my stomach.
When stimming with some of the really nice sensations, I forget about my normal state of being and don't feel any pain or nausea.
The first time I heard about stimming was in 2016 Action-Adventure movie with Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, et al, The Accountant. Title character is autistic and highly effective in several disciplines including math/accounting & martial arts. I love how he uses his "unique skill set" (homage Liam Neeson) to bring down powerful evil abusers & help good salt-of-the-earth folks.
When I see you stimming, it reminds me you're a little different, but not in a negative way. My first reaction seeing stimming is "that's unusual." Butl I don't see a joke, a chance to bully, or a weirdo to alienate; I see someone to applaud (not literally), to protect, to keep them from being attacked or hushed or manipulated. Glad she put the doctor in his place... You're awesome.
Oh my GOSH! I just watched the accountant for the first time about a month ago and I really liked it! I was so excited to see your comment mentioning it!
huh. felt that a bit, didn't know there was a word for it though
My stims:
•123443211234 motion with my hands
•Hand shaking
•”Un” sound
•Hand Slap on desk
•Flappy winds
•Nail biting
Wow. I learned more stims
I'm the 666th viewer and 111th liker 😅😅😅
this video popped up in my recommendation and yes i loved climbing the tree!
where do you get all your octopi stuffies from?
i have a pretty huge fascination and obsession for those animals and i'd really love to have one big octopus to cuddle with
Hi! Most of them are Jellycat stuffies that I’ve gotten through Indigo or local toy stores. The big one was a gift, that I believe was ordered through an Etsy shop. 🐙
I have an involuntary verbal stim (at least I think it would be called a stim) where I make a sudden cat-like chirp when I'm happy or see something cute. Would this be considered a stim or a tick?
If it is actually involuntary, then I believe it would be a tic. If it is more like subconscious (as in, you might not actively think "I'm going to chirp," but it is something you could NOT do) rather than involuntary it is more likely a stim.
I feel like it's a stim. I have a lot of verbal stims that I do. I get a little clip of something in my head and I just have to say it or sing it or whatever it is.
I like sounds.
Sounds are good.
same!
I know this is almost 2 years ago but i stim with my fidget cube.
My mom tells me that I’m just trying to be or look “autistic” when I’m stiming and that I never did when I was younger(I did) even though you don’t have to be autistic to stim. I flap my hands and jump around to stim
Aw man, I'm sorry your mom talked to you like that. It's okay even if you did look "Autistic". You should feel free to do what makes you happy and feel safe regardless of how you look to others who don't get it.
I have so many auditory stims, like random noises ane repeating words that sound good, i like to sing a lot too but i try not to do it around people :/
i don’t know if i’m neurodivergent(i suck at spelling) I mean i dont even really know what that means but I have a lot of the things that I know of, like stimming, I do almost all of these except when im in public im very self conscious about it so i end up ripping at my skin. Anywayyyy could someone tell me exactly what neurodivergent is, would really appreciate it.
Hi! "Neurodivergent" is a descriptor for anyone whose neurotype differs from that of the typical. More specifically, it means that you perceive, sense, interact with, and experience the world differently. It was originally used to describe autistic people, but has since become a broad descriptor covering other things, like ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, OCD, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy, dissociative and personality disorders, and mental illnesses.
Also, I can relate to hiding stimming in public. For me, it's part of the reason I get so overwhelmed, which has lead me to (semi-graphic description warning) scratch my skin until it bleeds. Using healthier forms of stimming has helped with this for me. I hope that you can find better ways to express that energy, too.
I have the same tangle as you
That's so cool!!
Stimming is suspiciously similar to living the heck out of life... intensely!
I love that!! that's such a neat way of putting it :)
What is the term for me?
I am asexual but I'm attracted to guys for effection. My friend said I'm probably a "homo romantic asexual" but I don't feel comfortable with that term. Is there a term for an asexual person that enjoys platonic affection (hugs and Cuddles with clothes on) but not necessarily romantic
Hi! I obviously can't tell you which descriptors are right for you, but maybe I can help.
In the ace community in particular, some people choose to specifically label their platonic attraction (such as being aplatonic). You could apply this to any prefix (ex: homoplatonic).
Otherwise, you could say you experience queerplatonic/ quasiplatonic attraction for those of a particular gender. Queerplatonic means somewhere between platonic and romantic, but also can be distinct. Queerplatonic relationships (QPRs) are popular for those who are aromantic because they often involve a close, co-dependent relationship that is not romantic by nature (we have a video about them on our channel!).
You may also want to look into sensual attraction. It's a term often used to describe the desire for closeness and (nonsexual and not necessarily romantic) physical affection, like hugs and cuddles.
In the case that you know you feel SOMETHING for guys, but are unsure what, there are terms such as "angled-aroace," and "oriented-aroace," that describe people who have a non-sexual/ romantic orientation that is significant enough to warrant a spot in their label (ex: pan-oriented aroace).
Hope this is useful!
TOO BASED
I love dancing and do ballet
I love those too! I don't really know how to do ballet, but I love pretending I'm a ballerina. I like the costumes and how the dancers seem so fluid with their movement.
Haha I didn't get triggered to stim..finally notices stim toy in hand..oh
😌 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐦
I don't know if this qualifies, but as a child I used to like to chew on aluminum foil...
I feel like that counts
Rocking is also one of my favourite stims!
Hi rocking friend! ❤️❤️❤️