Stimming is self-stimulatory behavior. Stimming is usually a repetitive sensory action and it’s used to help level out the amount of sensory input you’re getting, whether it’s too much or too little input!
What Counts As Stimming?
There’s so many ways to stim that it’s impossible to list them all, but the most basic criteria is that it’s a repetition of a sensory activity.
I don’t have ADHD and I’m not autistic. Am I allowed to use this term?
Everyone stims! Stimming is not exclusive to just ADHD and autism, and even neurotypical people stim whether they realize it or not! I personally think that it’s perfectly okay to use the word “stim” for your experiences regardless of if you’re autistic/have ADHD or not.
What Are Some Examples Of Stimming?
Tactile (Touching things)
Running hands over a blanket, petting an animal, tracing your fingers along the seams of something, squishing something, picking at things, touching cold/warm things, patting something, pressing buttons, flipping switches.
Auditory (Listening to things)
Listening to the same song over and over, listening to ASMR/things popular in ASMR (like clay cracking, soap crunching, fingernail tapping, etc), listening to a rhythm, listening to a favorite voice, shaking an object around for the noise.
Verbal (Making noises with your mouth)
Singing, repeating words/phrases, speaking in accents repetitively, whistling, beatboxing, mimicking animals/sounds, toungue clicking, making random noises like beeps or pops.
Visual (Watching/Staring at things)
Watching paint mixing videos, watching repetitive color/shape patterns, staring at ceiling fans, blinking repetitively, watching things spin, watching bubbles/water, watching people mix glitter, watching lights.
Smell (Smelling things)
Smelling a candle, smelling a favorite item (like a blanket or toy), smelling pets, etc. Pretty much smelling anything repeatedly!
Taste/Oral (Tasting/Chewing things)
Chewing on things, eating specific foods for the texture, eating specific foods for the flavor, eating spicy/minty foods for the sensory effects, licking certain objects.
Body Stims (Moving body parts)
Hand flapping, cracking knuckles, rocking, leg swinging, pacing, tapping fingers, doing little stomps, general fidgeting, jumping/bouncing, moving certain body parts in specific ways, shifting around in your seat.
This does not encompass every single stim! These are just some examples to help provide a better idea of what they are, and there’s still tons and tons of unique ways to stim that weren’t listed here, like how I tap my fingertips together, or how I clear my throat repetitively!
How peaceful is this? Little finches enjoying the water last night’s rain brought
[id:Video shows a dozen or so finches–little brown songbirds–splashing, shaking, and drinking from a large puddle near some big potted plants. Audio is just the gentle chirping of the birds, with a gentle distant din in the background. End id.]
green wheat field with cypress tree, vincent van gogh
So we hear a lot about how Van Gogh was a starving artist and no one loved him in his time, and I sorta hate that narrative because it’s incorrect and wipes out a lot of love in his life and waters his mental illness down to a starving artist inspiration porn for the ages.
And I think it is a lot more important to remember him as someone who had a lot of hard times, but loved the world so much that an empty field of grass inspired him to make stunning paintings, that he saw a night sky so beautiful it has lasted over a century, that he looked out the windows of the places he went when he was sick and saw art.
ID: video of a field bordered by trees, with a single evergreen tree in the left foreground. The grass is tall and golden-green; the breeze ripples it like waves. You can hear birdsong and wind sound.
Reblog adds a painting by van Gogh of a field that uses wavy lines and shading to depict wind-rippled tall grass. The background features a yellow roofed house and green trees, including one tall cypress tree that draws the eye as the darkest green in the painting. The sky is blue with white fluffy clouds. / end id]
From what I’ve learned from their profile, these fully dissolve in water (or can be squished) and are full of oils that make the water smell nice and leave skin feeling soft. They are all different scents and come in different shapes.
