As a young autistic woman, seeing an adult autistic woman stimming like this brings me such peace and joy. I can’t really explain it but I’m so happy that you shared 💕
Me too! I’m in my mid 50s and was only diagnosed 4 years ago. It’s hard for me to set my stims free too, so it makes me extremely happy when I see another autistic woman able to stim freely!! Thank you!!!💖✨💖✨
Suppressing it has caused me extreme anxiety and depression for all my adult life so far. I’m currently working on unraveling what’s been conditioned into me. Thank you to you and your mom for posting this. ❤
It’s wild what accepting stimming can do for both physical and mental health. First person I opened up around was my boyfriend, who ended up loving my little stims. Half the time I’m just standing around the house poorly replicating a random Videogame emote. Do I play any of those game, nope, but I find it funny and very stimulating. It’s just a nice little thing that makes both of us laugh, after I just gave up and keeping it all bundled up, my anxiety, depression, and fibromyalgia pain (think stress induced psychical pain) also plummeted remarkably. I would rather die than go back, the freedom is just amazing to experience.
Mamma Wolf, all I see when you stim is a woman who is going back to their inner child while FINALLY being allowed to unmask yourself. It's really nice to see that you're slowly being able to feel comfortable with things you had to repress for most of your life. It's also adorable seeing the mamma Wolf zoomies 😂
Just let your mom know that I found this ADORABLE!!!! Nothing she needs to feel shame about on my end! Hopefully she can tilt the scales of her conditioning and embrace what we see. Someone who is excited to have some miniature kit time!!!!
Amen young man! Your mom should never be embarrassed or ashamed by what she is as a soul or who she is as a human. She’s perfect just the way she is. And I love her so much. Please tell her some advice someone said to me a few years back, which was… “stop caring about what other people think because their opinion is none of your business”❤. Tell her she’s allowed to be herself… Her beautiful, genuine, unique, authentic self… And to do so unapologetically. She is an amazing soul.!❤🎉
Wishing your mother the best on this difficult journey of allowing herself to stim. I used to have big stims as a kid, which were often stopped with physical force, screaming, and violence. My favorite stim was shaking my leg, which my mother often stopped by pushing her full weight onto my leg so it was unable to move and would threaten to hit me if I kept doing it. Nothing I could say would convince her I couldn't control it. Now, when I am in public, my stims usually involve tapping my fingers at my sides or picking at my nails, things that can be ignored or pass as NT stims. It has taken years of work just to allow myself to have big, "ugly" stims in private.
I love seeing her be her authentic self! I feel like I am very similar to your beautiful mother and your videos help me to realize I’m not alone. Seeing her “zoomies” made me so happy. Keep it up mama wolf you rock!
My son tells me this as my husband does too . Like your mom I was told the same . I just cried to my husband about this . How it hurts to not do it makes me more nervous and anxious . Makes my body tense I have bad headaches or my body and senses will go numb . I’ll feel like I’m vibrating under water . I can’t taste or smell etc . I’m happy she is starting because of her bravery putting on you tube . Tell her I’m going to try too . Sorry my English isn’t good .
I'm 43 and still struggle with openly stimming, and sometimes even by myself because that negative voice in my head (put there by others) shames me and tells me to sit still. I DO feel better when I accept it and LET myself stim though. It's a hard habit to break (hiding it) after 40+ years, but I'm trying ❤ I'm glad to hear your mom is trying too. Hope you both have an awesome day! 🥰🥰🥰
It's just lovely to see someone so happy and excited about something, honestly. That's a beautiful thing, and it doesn't matter which kinds of sounds or movements you use to express that.
I swear to god y’all are just the best. I truly think your Mama is beautiful when she’s stimming like this! The joy! She’s like a happy faerie flitting about 🥰🧚♂️ It’s sooooo important to reclaim that physical truth of ourselves, and y’all inspire me 🙏
Came back to say that I just literally got more joy out of some flowers I was given because having watched this helped me realize I was truncating my happy dance over them. And then there was serious happy dancing in the kitchen!! This kind of sharing really makes a difference for us out here. Thank you, Serenity, for being brave. Thanks Toren, for being you.
Omg you beautiful lady, I am 39 and still yet undiagnosed (my mother was diagnosed adhd in her 40s though I suspect she is also autistic) but have struggled with this all my life. I remember closing myself in my room and doing my weird "dances" and making faces in the mirror and as an adult I wait until I'm alone to rock and sway while I close my eyes and hum because it just feels like the best thing ever but I'm too ashamed for anyone to see me probably due to the same reasons you hide. Thank you. And thank you Toren for returning your mother's kindness and love ❤
This makes me happy to see the journey Your mother is going through with her own stimming,I know how hard it is starting after suppression for so long and I'm proud of both of y'all ❤
So I am am mom of two kiddos that are neurodivergent and one that so far is neurotypical, all of them stem, and so do I. My husband likes when I stem, because it is always when I am extremely happy or excited, and because he loves me, he loves to see me that way. It sounds like your mom had many who love her too!!!
I learned to twitch my leg muscles so that i could stim under my desk. Of course, I didn't know that's what I was doing, because I wasn't diagnosed until age 49! Mama Wolf is so cute when she jumps up and down! ❤
I am a 49 year old woman with late diagnosed ADHD at age 47- I feel seen here. Thank you so much for this- my stimming was either suppressed or over-the-top my entire life. Now I know what was happening and my self-soothing techniques are a bit less troublesome. ❤
I too wasn't allowed to stim, it's hard to let loose after decades of bullying. I've found dancing helps a bit, there is this nice lady who uploads '15 minutes of Zumba" every day here on RUclips (I don't know if I'm allowed to write her name, but you'll find it easily) these 15 minutes in the morning give me a lot of joy! I don't really follow her after a while and just do my own thing. So, if you're reading this and struggle too, check it out. Be you, you're awesome! ♥️
She looks so happy, why does this make me cry? Thank you for loving your mom and allowing her to show her love to us. Thank you to your mom for her bravery and for not loosing all her joy in this joyless society.
Recently diagnosed. Also a child of the 80s/90s who was yelled at for stimming. I am still learning what mine is, since I feel it's so deeply hidden. So, seeing this makes me happy. Your mom looks HAPPY.
I looooooove her and YOU too Toren! Your family is so beautiful! Thank you all for sharing and educating. Special Thank You to your mom for being so vulnerable to help others!!!
I’ve never judged a person for stimming but myself. Once you’re programmed to think a specific way, it’s hard to get out of that programming. Shame, not for stimming itself, but knowing you’re doing something many of us were at one point or another beaten for. I’m about to turn 25 for context and I was diagnosed at 8 years old. Yet everyone in my life targeted me and forced me to adapt to survive. That isn’t something you can just turn off, though you can still watch on and wish you could let out all that energy without alarm bells going off in all directions. Autism doesn’t need to be a recipe for trauma and the more society is educated the more autistic people will be able to enjoy who they are unapologetically without targeted harassment. I’m trying to break my binds (my reluctancy to stim) and slowly allow more and more behaviors to be seen by the public. I’ve noticed that really nobody seems to care, if they even notice me to begin with, normally they just look away after a few seconds.
I taught high school for a year, decades ago. When a boy passed his first test ever, he leaped out of his seat, ran around yahooing with excitement, before sitting down again. Zoomies. Discharging energy.
That is SO cute. Joy is never embarrassing. That brought a big happy smile to my own face seeing her stimming. Please keep encouraging her to express herself openly.
I’m an adult autistic woman and seeing an intelligent, well rounded, put together human being like her stimming the way I do brings me lots of joy and peace. Finally someone else who drums and wiggles and does little zoomies!
Toren, thank you so much for showing how much you love your mom so openly. It truly is a gift to watch how you both take such good care of each other. The little glimpses into your lives help me see that true kindness exists in the world. 💜
I was so happy for her. I love it when you get excited over something. I still cry when I get something that touches my heart . I love to see her shimming. First I have heard about this but, joy pure joy is what I felt for her. Tfs❤
Watching her expressing her joy like that made me happy and made my chest feel lighter. I would love to have a whole video of her happily stimming to watch anytime I'm feeling down. Knowing she was also taught not to show that made me sad. At 47 people are still uncomfortable when I am happy even if I'm not stimming. It sucks. I want to thank her for allowing you to share this.
Your Mom is a beautiful person and it is clear you love her. All I see from her is happiness and excitement in the video, nothing that should be hidden.
My stimming was repressed also. I think your mom and I are probably similar ages... I have no idea how to stim now. But I just got myself a swing stand and an adult sensory swing and another chair swing. I know that one way I stimmed as a child was making up songs and singing and on the swing in my backyard. I've always wanted some kind of swing as an adult. After figuring out that I am a high masking autistic female I figured now was a good time to get a swing. So the journey begins! Thank you so much for sharing your and your mom's experiences! 💖
A way I try to relearn stimming is to watch videos of other people stimming. And it kind of shocks me each time how much of it I did myself as a child, but was suppressed later on, especially the happy stims. Now, that I try and do them, I also realized, that it's not just the stimming I suppressed, but also my feelings. I'm just learning, how much joy and excitement I can actually feel, when I do my sitting happy wiggles. Wish you all the best on your journey ❤
Thank you for being so brave and vulnerable. The videos from your family have really helped us understand our 11 year old son that is so very much like your own son. You are both inspirational in normalizing these behaviors! This morning my son was repeating the same phrase over and over again. I could see my husband was getting a bit frustrated, but I let him know it was a form of stimming and showed him one of your previous videos that explained this. Awesome job helping families understand each other by just being yourselves. Thank you ❤
This video feels like true happy unrestrained freedom to me. Thank you for sharing. It is so beautiful and encouraging to see as someone who also hides my stimming.
This is very encouraging and heartwarming 🥺💖 as a female autistic, I learned to hide my stims as well. In these last couple of years I just started to try to unmask them, but I get feelings of shame and this need to mask again. Having a supporting system really makes the difference. I've learned to unmask more around my house and in presence of my partner, who just lets me be who I am and whenever I apologize for stimming, he just says it's ok and reminds me I should not apologize and encourages me to keep expressing myself freely ❤ I'm so happy to see your mom to be able to unmask after so many years and that you are supporting her ❤❤❤
Serenity thank you for being authentically YOU! There is so much strength in vulnerability and so much braveness in fighting through the fear and you are one strong, brave, fierce Mama Wolf 🐺 ❤
This brought a smile to my face. It was pure goodness to see her excited and able to express. I think suppressing her joy would be harmful. Stimm all you want!
Learning to express emotions with the whole body is key to relearning how to be joyful. Thats how we did it as children until conditioned otherwise. Too bad she feels bad about herself, it is super cute and she seems honestly free and joyful. Awesome video.
This is 100% me as well. I just went into the best washi tape/stationery store heaven yesterday, and was happy to see I am allowing myself to mask less and bounce with excitement now! I love your videos and what you both share with us. It makes a big difference to a lot of people, who really appreciate it very deeply. I see so many of my own experiences is Mama Wolf's shares, and a lot of my son's in Toren's shares. It is so lovely to see proof that we are one of many families living with our kind of awesome. Lots of love! Thank you for all that you do!
I crochet stuffies, and sometimes get a booth somewhere to sell them. My favorite experience so far was when a teenager came up and was doing happy floppy hands from the moment they saw my booth. I must admit, I gave them a discount because seeing them made me so happy.
Thank you so very much Toren, mom and all who help make these videos possible. I feel safe and content and belonging here with you on this channel and am so grateful for the info and all that you share. Trying to learn my stims and let them be free, and continue to not feel shame for who I am and what makes me human, maybe a lil different but human and completely okay 🤗💗💗💗 Thank you so very much 💗💗💗 Hailey 🤗💗💗💗
I don't really comment often but thank you for all of your videos. I felt afraid to click on this one, I knew I'd just see a reflection of myself and how I still hide my stims even from my AuDHD partner, but it's important that I see it. I've been diagnosed ADHD for almost all of my life, and now at 24 I'm working on an official autism diagnosis after many of my symptoms couldn't be explained by ADHD alone. I was often told that I'm too "well spoken" to be autistic and was dismissed without question any time I tried to bring it up. Yeah I'm not going to let myself be ignored anymore, I want a full evalution and not a snotty rich kid calling themselves a doctor brushing me off because I made fake eye contact with them. Thank you for helping me and others as you have! The work you do is important.
Even as an adult, I subconsciously suppress stimming while other people are around. While it pains me to know I’m not alone, I feel validated at the same time ♥️
It gives me chills looking at your mom strimming like this. I do the exact same thing when alone because I get called a weirdo by my family, especially my parents when I did this openly and was told to stop misbehaving immediately. I thought that I was just bit ~silly~ but now I guess, with other symptoms autistic channels educated me about, i might have to seriously think about getting formally diagnosed. Thank you.
It’s nice to see someone learning to accept their stims ❤️ I have an extremely hard time allowing myself to stim normally because I was punished for it so I often do it in less obvious ways (rubbing my feet on the ground, using my fingers, through music, etc) but it’s honestly tiring holding myself back. It’s so bad that even on my own I don’t let myself stim bc it was so ingrained in me not to do it but when I actually make an effort to stim freely I feel 1000x better!! I’m glad for channels like this that promote self acceptance
It’s so so lovely, please don’t feel embarrassed. No need to and it’s good for you and very cute 💗💗💗💗💗 I always whish when make myself vulnerable and show myself that others are encouraged to be themselves too. I think today everyone masks so so so much of their loveliness and it’s so sad 😢. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you so much for your channel. I'm a mum of a 15 year old boy with ASD. I've been completely lost and worried. You have helped so much. I thought I new alot but seeing a personal experience is very different. He is similar to you in manner and looks, even, so I can link up traits more easily as they look familiar. So, thank you very much.
I absolutely resonate with being 100% comfortable with myself only when alone. Son number two and I talk to ourselves, out loud, a whole lot and mostly unconsciously. My internal dialog overflows constantly but I don't want others to hear because when you're talkin' to yourself it's supposed to be private! ☺️
This is very informative and sweet!! I was diagnosed with AuDHD this year and had been learning about both diagnoses in depth for a few years prior, since I once had a higher need neurodivergent friend. The diagnosis shocked me and I started to really notice how I manifested the symptoms of both conditions. One of them was suppressed stimming. I recently made a new friend who is also AuDHD, and they have been extremely helpful- encouraging me to unmask and talking about how the behaviors/feelings/etc I was shamed for were normal. Over the last few weeks I began to notice that I was stimming alone and during certain moments at work where I wasn't really being paid attention to. I make a lot of verbal sounds when I'm trying to process a thought or feeling especially if it is extremely positive or negative. I hadn't done that hardly at all until now, it always manifested quieter than a whisper that I often couldn't hear it myself. It's reassuring to know the mask is starting to come off. My heart goes out to all the neurodivergent folk who were taught that stimming is annoying or bad.
Thank you, I needed to see this today. I’m also a child of the ‘80s and wasn’t diagnosed until early this year. I can’t remember stimming like this as a child, but it does feel very natural to me. As a child, I was very fixated on the sit n spin, the swings we had outside, a rocker we had for a while, my dad’s recliner that I could spin a bit, flipping through very thick books and just feeling the air and tingly feeling from pages brushing my fingers. I think the suppression of more free stimming started when I was preschool. Adding in peers making fun of and bully, and at home family and their friends also poking fun made it quieter and quieter. To the point most physical stims were “typical fidgety” type behavior, tike twirling my hair, tugging on it, chewing on the ends, stimming with my toes in my shoes and in my mouth. There’s still a lot i feel like I can’t be free doing. I want to them, I give myself permission to do them, but it’s hard to fight against 39 years with most of that being very suppressed due to people making fun of it. I’m slowly opening up and trying to do new things when my head gets to either that really foggy sort of feeling like it’s going to shut down from stimulation boredom or when things are feeling overwhelming or my my body starts to just twitch on its own and I need to figure out to get those feelings removed. Even still, there’s a lot more I do by myself than around other people. Including my husband, granted he sees far more of it than anyone else.
I love this, thank you! As a 42 year old late diagnosed woman, this is EXACTLY what I look like when "home alone" and I feel free to be myself!!! Especially the zoomies!! And I like to flap my hands and jump up and down. Also it is joyful to do this, so I feel lucky and I hope your mum does too. And your house is beautiful.
As a young autistic woman, seeing an adult autistic woman stimming like this brings me such peace and joy. I can’t really explain it but I’m so happy that you shared 💕
Ditto!🎉❤
Me too! I’m in my mid 50s and was only diagnosed 4 years ago. It’s hard for me to set my stims free too, so it makes me extremely happy when I see another autistic woman able to stim freely!! Thank you!!!💖✨💖✨
I understand. Me too. Though I'm a lot closer to his mom's age lol
@@twhimsy lol I actually am too, but it’s the young autist in me that truly feels this, to the benefit of my present self!
Same. But I’m old 😅
It’s so cute how excited she is for the miniature kit. Stimming is a form of externalizing your happiness.
Suppressing it has caused me extreme anxiety and depression for all my adult life so far. I’m currently working on unraveling what’s been conditioned into me. Thank you to you and your mom for posting this. ❤
It’s wild what accepting stimming can do for both physical and mental health.
First person I opened up around was my boyfriend, who ended up loving my little stims. Half the time I’m just standing around the house poorly replicating a random Videogame emote. Do I play any of those game, nope, but I find it funny and very stimulating. It’s just a nice little thing that makes both of us laugh, after I just gave up and keeping it all bundled up, my anxiety, depression, and fibromyalgia pain (think stress induced psychical pain) also plummeted remarkably.
I would rather die than go back, the freedom is just amazing to experience.
I can tell you with certainty that unlearning stimming suppression is so worth it! Please, keep trying and you will notice good results!
Mamma Wolf, all I see when you stim is a woman who is going back to their inner child while FINALLY being allowed to unmask yourself. It's really nice to see that you're slowly being able to feel comfortable with things you had to repress for most of your life. It's also adorable seeing the mamma Wolf zoomies 😂
Just let your mom know that I found this ADORABLE!!!! Nothing she needs to feel shame about on my end! Hopefully she can tilt the scales of her conditioning and embrace what we see. Someone who is excited to have some miniature kit time!!!!
Your mom is literally the cutest human being I’ve watched ❤
Amen young man! Your mom should never be embarrassed or ashamed by what she is as a soul or who she is as a human. She’s perfect just the way she is. And I love her so much. Please tell her some advice someone said to me a few years back, which was… “stop caring about what other people think because their opinion is none of your business”❤. Tell her she’s allowed to be herself… Her beautiful, genuine, unique, authentic self… And to do so unapologetically. She is an amazing soul.!❤🎉
Her opening up is helping me feel okay about myself too. Thank you ❤
Wishing your mother the best on this difficult journey of allowing herself to stim. I used to have big stims as a kid, which were often stopped with physical force, screaming, and violence. My favorite stim was shaking my leg, which my mother often stopped by pushing her full weight onto my leg so it was unable to move and would threaten to hit me if I kept doing it. Nothing I could say would convince her I couldn't control it.
Now, when I am in public, my stims usually involve tapping my fingers at my sides or picking at my nails, things that can be ignored or pass as NT stims. It has taken years of work just to allow myself to have big, "ugly" stims in private.
I love seeing her be her authentic self! I feel like I am very similar to your beautiful mother and your videos help me to realize I’m not alone. Seeing her “zoomies” made me so happy. Keep it up mama wolf you rock!
My son tells me this as my husband does too . Like your mom I was told the same . I just cried to my husband about this . How it hurts to not do it makes me more nervous and anxious . Makes my body tense I have bad headaches or my body and senses will go numb . I’ll feel like I’m vibrating under water . I can’t taste or smell etc . I’m happy she is starting because of her bravery putting on you tube . Tell her I’m going to try too . Sorry my English isn’t good .
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
my name is alison, 61, self identified 4 years ago. i thnk shes a beautiful creation just as she is. her stims are endearing and elegant❤
What a blessing it is to her to have such a wise and loving son. ♥️
And children tend to mirror the way their parents have used to treat them.
No one should feel bad about who they are… that one hit a little different.. thank you Toren
I'm 43 and still struggle with openly stimming, and sometimes even by myself because that negative voice in my head (put there by others) shames me and tells me to sit still. I DO feel better when I accept it and LET myself stim though. It's a hard habit to break (hiding it) after 40+ years, but I'm trying ❤ I'm glad to hear your mom is trying too. Hope you both have an awesome day! 🥰🥰🥰
Seeing your mom stimming because she is happy about something, is nice to see! Love to you and your mom:)
It's just lovely to see someone so happy and excited about something, honestly. That's a beautiful thing, and it doesn't matter which kinds of sounds or movements you use to express that.
If I didn't know any better, I would think this was a video of me when I'm home alone. This is so beautiful to watch!🥰💝💖
I love seeing the support you give each other ❤
I swear to god y’all are just the best. I truly think your Mama is beautiful when she’s stimming like this! The joy! She’s like a happy faerie flitting about 🥰🧚♂️ It’s sooooo important to reclaim that physical truth of ourselves, and y’all inspire me 🙏
Came back to say that I just literally got more joy out of some flowers I was given because having watched this helped me realize I was truncating my happy dance over them. And then there was serious happy dancing in the kitchen!! This kind of sharing really makes a difference for us out here. Thank you, Serenity, for being brave. Thanks Toren, for being you.
Omg you beautiful lady, I am 39 and still yet undiagnosed (my mother was diagnosed adhd in her 40s though I suspect she is also autistic) but have struggled with this all my life. I remember closing myself in my room and doing my weird "dances" and making faces in the mirror and as an adult I wait until I'm alone to rock and sway while I close my eyes and hum because it just feels like the best thing ever but I'm too ashamed for anyone to see me probably due to the same reasons you hide. Thank you. And thank you Toren for returning your mother's kindness and love ❤
This makes me happy to see the journey Your mother is going through with her own stimming,I know how hard it is starting after suppression for so long and I'm proud of both of y'all ❤
this genuinely made me so happy 🥺💖💖💖
This is absolutely adorable and makes me so happy to see. Definitely don't feel ashamed. It's a part of who you are. 😁
I hope Mama Serenity gets more comfortable with who she is. Thanks for sharing this Toren ❤️
Seeing your Mum get so happy and excited about miniatures (because I love them too) really warms my heart. 😊
80's kid here. I only stim in the bathroom or my bedroom. Been bullied a lot for my stims so it feels weird to do the non-accepted ones anywhere else
So I am am mom of two kiddos that are neurodivergent and one that so far is neurotypical, all of them stem, and so do I. My husband likes when I stem, because it is always when I am extremely happy or excited, and because he loves me, he loves to see me that way. It sounds like your mom had many who love her too!!!
I do the thigh drums a lot too when Im excited 😂
I also run and jump! I get a huge burst of energy then I do that 😅
Ur mom is so wonderful!! I hope one day she can find a way to stim openly and without shame ❤
I think she is amazing. How challenging her childhood was. She is a successful mother and wife, so supportive of her son’s individuality.
She looks so excited and adorable.
I learned to twitch my leg muscles so that i could stim under my desk. Of course, I didn't know that's what I was doing, because I wasn't diagnosed until age 49!
Mama Wolf is so cute when she jumps up and down! ❤
I am a 49 year old woman with late diagnosed ADHD at age 47- I feel seen here. Thank you so much for this- my stimming was either suppressed or over-the-top my entire life. Now I know what was happening and my self-soothing techniques are a bit less troublesome. ❤
I too wasn't allowed to stim, it's hard to let loose after decades of bullying. I've found dancing helps a bit, there is this nice lady who uploads '15 minutes of Zumba" every day here on RUclips (I don't know if I'm allowed to write her name, but you'll find it easily) these 15 minutes in the morning give me a lot of joy! I don't really follow her after a while and just do my own thing. So, if you're reading this and struggle too, check it out. Be you, you're awesome! ♥️
The two of you bring me so much joy. I relate to your mom a lot and your encouragement is genuinely comforting. ❤
She looks so happy, why does this make me cry?
Thank you for loving your mom and allowing her to show her love to us.
Thank you to your mom for her bravery and for not loosing all her joy in this joyless society.
YES I LOVE THE THIGH DRUMMING TOO ❤
Recently diagnosed. Also a child of the 80s/90s who was yelled at for stimming. I am still learning what mine is, since I feel it's so deeply hidden. So, seeing this makes me happy. Your mom looks HAPPY.
Your mom is so cute! 🥺 😭 I'm glad you're helping her the same way she helps you!
I looooooove her and YOU too Toren! Your family is so beautiful! Thank you all for sharing and educating. Special Thank You to your mom for being so vulnerable to help others!!!
I’ve never judged a person for stimming but myself. Once you’re programmed to think a specific way, it’s hard to get out of that programming.
Shame, not for stimming itself, but knowing you’re doing something many of us were at one point or another beaten for.
I’m about to turn 25 for context and I was diagnosed at 8 years old. Yet everyone in my life targeted me and forced me to adapt to survive. That isn’t something you can just turn off, though you can still watch on and wish you could let out all that energy without alarm bells going off in all directions.
Autism doesn’t need to be a recipe for trauma and the more society is educated the more autistic people will be able to enjoy who they are unapologetically without targeted harassment.
I’m trying to break my binds (my reluctancy to stim) and slowly allow more and more behaviors to be seen by the public. I’ve noticed that really nobody seems to care, if they even notice me to begin with, normally they just look away after a few seconds.
I taught high school for a year, decades ago.
When a boy passed his first test ever, he leaped out of his seat, ran around yahooing with excitement, before sitting down again.
Zoomies. Discharging energy.
That is SO cute. Joy is never embarrassing. That brought a big happy smile to my own face seeing her stimming. Please keep encouraging her to express herself openly.
Thank you both for sharing your experiences ❤ 😭
This is beautiful. Thank you to your mom for being vulnerable and sharing her real self with us! ❤
I’m an adult autistic woman and seeing an intelligent, well rounded, put together human being like her stimming the way I do brings me lots of joy and peace. Finally someone else who drums and wiggles and does little zoomies!
Toren, thank you so much for showing how much you love your mom so openly. It truly is a gift to watch how you both take such good care of each other. The little glimpses into your lives help me see that true kindness exists in the world. 💜
I was so happy for her. I love it when you get excited over something. I still cry when I get something that touches my heart . I love to see her shimming. First I have heard about this but, joy pure joy is what I felt for her. Tfs❤
She is amazing! Stimming is life and thank the Universe that attitudes on neurodiversity are finally, FINALLY changing. Love this channel!
Watching her expressing her joy like that made me happy and made my chest feel lighter. I would love to have a whole video of her happily stimming to watch anytime I'm feeling down. Knowing she was also taught not to show that made me sad. At 47 people are still uncomfortable when I am happy even if I'm not stimming. It sucks. I want to thank her for allowing you to share this.
Your Mom is a beautiful person and it is clear you love her. All I see from her is happiness and excitement in the video, nothing that should be hidden.
It brought me joy to see this! Thank you for encouraging her to share and to indulge in being herself. Much love.
My stimming was repressed also. I think your mom and I are probably similar ages... I have no idea how to stim now. But I just got myself a swing stand and an adult sensory swing and another chair swing. I know that one way I stimmed as a child was making up songs and singing and on the swing in my backyard. I've always wanted some kind of swing as an adult. After figuring out that I am a high masking autistic female I figured now was a good time to get a swing. So the journey begins! Thank you so much for sharing your and your mom's experiences! 💖
A way I try to relearn stimming is to watch videos of other people stimming. And it kind of shocks me each time how much of it I did myself as a child, but was suppressed later on, especially the happy stims. Now, that I try and do them, I also realized, that it's not just the stimming I suppressed, but also my feelings. I'm just learning, how much joy and excitement I can actually feel, when I do my sitting happy wiggles.
Wish you all the best on your journey ❤
@@plutoniumlollie9574 I hear you. So much got repressed. Tapping into joy is important. 🤗💖
This is so precious! I'm so glad she was open to letting you show us! 🥺
If I got a present for someone and they acted like this, it would make me SO DARN HAPPY! I honestly wish more people did this🥹
Thank you for being so brave and vulnerable. The videos from your family have really helped us understand our 11 year old son that is so very much like your own son. You are both inspirational in normalizing these behaviors! This morning my son was repeating the same phrase over and over again. I could see my husband was getting a bit frustrated, but I let him know it was a form of stimming and showed him one of your previous videos that explained this. Awesome job helping families understand each other by just being yourselves. Thank you ❤
This makes me so happy! Never be ashamed of your joy.
This video feels like true happy unrestrained freedom to me. Thank you for sharing. It is so beautiful and encouraging to see as someone who also hides my stimming.
I love seeing these videos of your mother blossoming as she becomes more and more comfortable in her own skin 💕
Aw. I need to alone to let my body do what it wants too. I hope she feels more comfortable over time around people.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks especially to your mom for sharing her personal self, to show by example how other grownups can relax & be themselves.
That looking around before letting loose is too relatable 😭 best wishes to her, she seems lovely
This is very encouraging and heartwarming 🥺💖 as a female autistic, I learned to hide my stims as well. In these last couple of years I just started to try to unmask them, but I get feelings of shame and this need to mask again. Having a supporting system really makes the difference. I've learned to unmask more around my house and in presence of my partner, who just lets me be who I am and whenever I apologize for stimming, he just says it's ok and reminds me I should not apologize and encourages me to keep expressing myself freely ❤
I'm so happy to see your mom to be able to unmask after so many years and that you are supporting her ❤❤❤
This is the cutest! She is So happy and excited for that mini figure. Your mom is super cute.
Serenity thank you for being authentically YOU! There is so much strength in vulnerability and so much braveness in fighting through the fear and you are one strong, brave, fierce Mama Wolf 🐺 ❤
Something about seeing an adult move around so joyously fills me with happiness too.
funny i see this after I spent an hour playing with hula hoops and poi balls that were bought for my kids lol
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
This brought a smile to my face. It was pure goodness to see her excited and able to express. I think suppressing her joy would be harmful. Stimm all you want!
Ahaha, your mom is so cute while stimming. Her exitement was contagious and made me smile, too.
Learning to express emotions with the whole body is key to relearning how to be joyful. Thats how we did it as children until conditioned otherwise. Too bad she feels bad about herself, it is super cute and she seems honestly free and joyful. Awesome video.
I love your relationship with your mum. ❤
This is 100% me as well. I just went into the best washi tape/stationery store heaven yesterday, and was happy to see I am allowing myself to mask less and bounce with excitement now! I love your videos and what you both share with us. It makes a big difference to a lot of people, who really appreciate it very deeply. I see so many of my own experiences is Mama Wolf's shares, and a lot of my son's in Toren's shares. It is so lovely to see proof that we are one of many families living with our kind of awesome. Lots of love! Thank you for all that you do!
watching her be happy and skip around honestly made me so, so happy FOR her. Let it out, girl. You deserve to hop around simply cause it's nice :)
I’m in the process of getting diagnosed myself at 35, and the happy flaps and zoomies really spoke to me. I wish your mom the best.
I am so incredibly grateful you're sharing this ❤ Makes me feel more comfortable with who I am
This is beautiful❣️
The video❤, your explanations to destigmatize❤, your mother/you, Serenity❤, her/your stims❤! 😊
It makes me so happy to see her happy! 😊
I crochet stuffies, and sometimes get a booth somewhere to sell them. My favorite experience so far was when a teenager came up and was doing happy floppy hands from the moment they saw my booth. I must admit, I gave them a discount because seeing them made me so happy.
Joyful to watch someone express happiness.. and.. joy 😊
Thanks to your Mom for giving permission to share this. So many of us other repressed adults need to see this! 💖✨
Thank you so very much Toren, mom and all who help make these videos possible. I feel safe and content and belonging here with you on this channel and am so grateful for the info and all that you share. Trying to learn my stims and let them be free, and continue to not feel shame for who I am and what makes me human, maybe a lil different but human and completely okay 🤗💗💗💗
Thank you so very much 💗💗💗
Hailey 🤗💗💗💗
I don't really comment often but thank you for all of your videos. I felt afraid to click on this one, I knew I'd just see a reflection of myself and how I still hide my stims even from my AuDHD partner, but it's important that I see it. I've been diagnosed ADHD for almost all of my life, and now at 24 I'm working on an official autism diagnosis after many of my symptoms couldn't be explained by ADHD alone. I was often told that I'm too "well spoken" to be autistic and was dismissed without question any time I tried to bring it up. Yeah I'm not going to let myself be ignored anymore, I want a full evalution and not a snotty rich kid calling themselves a doctor brushing me off because I made fake eye contact with them. Thank you for helping me and others as you have! The work you do is important.
I'm so glad she has opportunities to stim more comfortably ❤
This looks so alive and, lovely ❤
Please keep encouraging her, it’s really scary but it seems like she’s got a gr8 support team behind her
She is such a cute and joyous person ❤
You two make me happy. Thank you for sharing. I saw a lot of my own movements in this video. I'm also trying to let myself be free.
Oh my word - she fills my heart. I act like a dork when no one is watching - she and I are of the same people.
Even as an adult, I subconsciously suppress stimming while other people are around. While it pains me to know I’m not alone, I feel validated at the same time ♥️
It gives me chills looking at your mom strimming like this. I do the exact same thing when alone because I get called a weirdo by my family, especially my parents when I did this openly and was told to stop misbehaving immediately. I thought that I was just bit ~silly~ but now I guess, with other symptoms autistic channels educated me about, i might have to seriously think about getting formally diagnosed. Thank you.
It’s nice to see someone learning to accept their stims ❤️ I have an extremely hard time allowing myself to stim normally because I was punished for it so I often do it in less obvious ways (rubbing my feet on the ground, using my fingers, through music, etc) but it’s honestly tiring holding myself back. It’s so bad that even on my own I don’t let myself stim bc it was so ingrained in me not to do it but when I actually make an effort to stim freely I feel 1000x better!! I’m glad for channels like this that promote self acceptance
It’s so so lovely, please don’t feel embarrassed. No need to and it’s good for you and very cute 💗💗💗💗💗
I always whish when make myself vulnerable and show myself that others are encouraged to be themselves too. I think today everyone masks so so so much of their loveliness and it’s so sad 😢. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you so much for your channel. I'm a mum of a 15 year old boy with ASD. I've been completely lost and worried. You have helped so much. I thought I new alot but seeing a personal experience is very different. He is similar to you in manner and looks, even, so I can link up traits more easily as they look familiar. So, thank you very much.
Such an enlightening video, as always. You and your mum are so blessed to have each other. Greetings from Greece!
This is good. She is simply expressing her joy.
I absolutely resonate with being 100% comfortable with myself only when alone. Son number two and I talk to ourselves, out loud, a whole lot and mostly unconsciously. My internal dialog overflows constantly but I don't want others to hear because when you're talkin' to yourself it's supposed to be private! ☺️
This is very informative and sweet!! I was diagnosed with AuDHD this year and had been learning about both diagnoses in depth for a few years prior, since I once had a higher need neurodivergent friend. The diagnosis shocked me and I started to really notice how I manifested the symptoms of both conditions. One of them was suppressed stimming.
I recently made a new friend who is also AuDHD, and they have been extremely helpful- encouraging me to unmask and talking about how the behaviors/feelings/etc I was shamed for were normal. Over the last few weeks I began to notice that I was stimming alone and during certain moments at work where I wasn't really being paid attention to. I make a lot of verbal sounds when I'm trying to process a thought or feeling especially if it is extremely positive or negative. I hadn't done that hardly at all until now, it always manifested quieter than a whisper that I often couldn't hear it myself. It's reassuring to know the mask is starting to come off. My heart goes out to all the neurodivergent folk who were taught that stimming is annoying or bad.
Thank you, I needed to see this today. I’m also a child of the ‘80s and wasn’t diagnosed until early this year. I can’t remember stimming like this as a child, but it does feel very natural to me. As a child, I was very fixated on the sit n spin, the swings we had outside, a rocker we had for a while, my dad’s recliner that I could spin a bit, flipping through very thick books and just feeling the air and tingly feeling from pages brushing my fingers. I think the suppression of more free stimming started when I was preschool. Adding in peers making fun of and bully, and at home family and their friends also poking fun made it quieter and quieter. To the point most physical stims were “typical fidgety” type behavior, tike twirling my hair, tugging on it, chewing on the ends, stimming with my toes in my shoes and in my mouth.
There’s still a lot i feel like I can’t be free doing. I want to them, I give myself permission to do them, but it’s hard to fight against 39 years with most of that being very suppressed due to people making fun of it. I’m slowly opening up and trying to do new things when my head gets to either that really foggy sort of feeling like it’s going to shut down from stimulation boredom or when things are feeling overwhelming or my my body starts to just twitch on its own and I need to figure out to get those feelings removed. Even still, there’s a lot more I do by myself than around other people. Including my husband, granted he sees far more of it than anyone else.
I love this, thank you! As a 42 year old late diagnosed woman, this is EXACTLY what I look like when "home alone" and I feel free to be myself!!! Especially the zoomies!! And I like to flap my hands and jump up and down. Also it is joyful to do this, so I feel lucky and I hope your mum does too. And your house is beautiful.