Share Your Stim!

This is a pro-stimming blog for Autistics, SPD-ers, and Sensory Seekers of all kinds! You are welcome--encouraged!--to submit your favorite stims, videos/gifs/pics of you stimming or demonstrating a stim toy, recommendations, and general positivity for stimming! Stim on! (Header by Championstevenstone)

[share-your-stim]

Totally honest question: Is a repetitive movement/action/behavior that someone does to comfort/calm/focus them still technically count as stimming if they do not have Autism or SPD? I have anxiety, plus PTSD, and I was wondering if some of my actions would be considered stimming.

Yes!  “Stimming” is short for self stimulation, meaning that it’s anything that you do to yourself to illicit a bodily response (ringing a bell to hear the sound, scratching your arm to sooth an itch, rocking back and forth to feel your body move).  When I have an anxiety attack, I rock back and forth because it calms me down. It is not exclusive to autistic people or SPD-ers, though for them it is a primary part of their behavior and world experience.  But everybody stims to some extent.  Petting your dog is a stim, as is flapping your arms when you’re happy.  Stims can be intentional or unconscious, too.  I often don’t realize when I’m rocking until somebody tells me! 

So to answer your question, yes it is stimming, and that’s totally okay :)

[share-your-stim]

My beautiful thank you card from @championstevenstone! The cards are soooo beautiful, the picture doesn't even do the colors justice. I'm so happy I could do this giveaway, and as we continue to approach 1000, there may be another in the near future!

[coffee-cauldron]

My warmer sock

I get very cold at night, so I made this little guy!

1 clean cotton sock (I used a women’s ankle sock, but you can use whatever size you like, given you have enough stuff to fill it with)

Enough rice to fill it with enough sock left to tie off

Extra stuff to put in to your liking. I used dried ginger, peppermint, and chamomile, because I had some tea sachets with each of those things on their own, and they smell nice, and it made me feel extra witchy.

Fill the sock with your rice and extras, tie off tightly. Pop in the microwave at 15-20 second intervals until you find what makes it the perfect temperature with your microwave. Be careful–rice can burn if microwaved enough, and it is awful.

Go forth and be warm!

[share-your-stim]

This also makes a fabulous stim toy for calming down or falling asleep!  It’s quiet, squishy, and warm and you can snuggle it or hold in in your hands or put in on your chest.  And you can reuse it over and over again!

[share-your-stim]

I’m so happy that I found my vibrating Happy Feet penguin keychain after all these years! I washed him today and he still shakes when you pull the string in his back. I find the vibrating very soothing to listen to/feel as I hold him in my hand. :)

[share-your-stim]

I got a bunch of stim toys from a stimtastic giveaway and I am so happy, much happy stimming~!!

That's awesome! :D

[allthatisgolddoesnotglitter]

Flappy Hands, Happy Hands! Tried to submit this to @autisticworlds but I’m apparently bad at the internet. This is my art blog. ♡personal blog: @championstevenstone ♡knitting blog: @yarnadventures

[sleepyclefairy-deactivated20160]

Ahhhhh!!! Happy flaps and squeals!! My giveaway prize from @share-your-stim came today!!! It was in such a cute package and had extra goodies in it too! Lush Lord of Misrule Shower cream, a Lush Charity Pot hand and lotion cream, Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner, stimtastic snake twist, peapod popper, cookie chew necklace, keep calm and stim on bracelet, and a boink!!! Everything smells wonderful and is stimmy amazing. The lush stuff will be so helpful with my dry skin and not picking and dermatillomania, the stimmy stuff is all stuff I’ve wanted so bad but haven’t had money to buy!!! The chew will be so nice to replace the one I beat up which is wonderful because I was destroying shirts by chewing them!!! And the peapod has cute puppy faces and I’m so happy flappy excited thank you so much. @share-your-stim!!! Everyone should follow them and send love!!!!!! Thank youuu so muchhhhhh!!!!!!

[share-your-stim]

All the excellence! And the package got there way faster than I expected! Definitely going to hold another giveaway soon--I'm not that far from 1000 followers (700-something currently). And all of you, my lovely stimmers, are to thank! Congratulations @championstevenstone, enjoy to the fullest, and Stim On!

[share-your-stim]

readypercival submitted: i buy 2000’s racing games and flap while whispering the name of each car. i also turn off the music and listen to each car’s exhaust sound

Ooh, you’d love the show Top Gear!  Lots of different car engine sounds!

[share-your-stim]

Hello, was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to combat a specific stim? I tend to pick my skin and give myself pretty bad little injuries, which turn into scards. Are there any toys that could help? Or anything else, really

Have you looked up something called dermatillomania? (Link goes to a support website).  It is a stim, but it’s also something called a “body-focused repetative behavior”, or BFRB.  I have a similar thing called trichotillomania, where I compulsively pluck hairs, both as a stim and as a compulsion.  It is a mental disorder, but it’s manageable with knowledge about it.  There’s a big community of people with BFRBs, and they are really supportive.

In the meantime, try and figure out when you pick the most, and why.  It might be stress, because it feels good to you, boredom, there are a lot of possible triggers.  And there are a few things you can do right away:

1. Lotion on your arms and hands: If you can handle lotion sensorily, then having it on your hands and arms (or wherever you pick from) can make it harder to pick and kind of act as a deterrent.

2. Stickers, band-aids, or tape: Put a bunch of something that sticks on the area, and pull those off instead when you feel the need.  It’ll give you that input you crave without hurting you.

3. First-aid: If you do hurt a spot (god know I’ve put holes in myself digging for hairs on my legs), clean it up and put a band-aid on it.  And don’t feel bad.  Derma is a compulsion, meaning that you have little to no control over doing it.  You can try and be mindful and stop when you notice you’re starting, but it’s also okay if you can’t stop, because it’s really frakking hard to do.

I know that this is a ton of info, but it’s important to know about this and I experience it myself (and have since early childhood) and I still have issues with it, so I feel for you.  Message me anytime, even privately, if you have questions or just want to talk about it.

Much love and sending you good vibes <3

[sensorysurvival]

Hi! Im a folk with spd and I was wondering if you know any fun apps for stimming/stress relief.

Hi! So I (Mod Logan) have an iPhone, so my suggestions may not work for all phones - this is obviously open to follower responses of all kinds though, because I won’t know every stimmy app on any platform!

Blendoku - a color-sorting game where you line up colors in a variety of orders, where the colors may all be variations on the same color or a variety of different colors. Price: Free (may have in-app purchases, I don’t remember)

Miracle Modus - a collection of colored light patterns that move in a variety of ways across the screen and can be changed and modified by the user. Price: Free.

Monument Valley - a puzzle geometry game, where you move a character called Ida through many ‘impossible’ geometric shapes. Extremely soothing music and beautiful colors. Price: Initial game is free, also has in-app purchase of more levels.

Dots - connect dots of the same color and try to form squares. Price: Free, offers in-app purchases for more themes and different versions of the game. (Two Dots is a separate game made by the same people that has more of a storyline with it, as far as I can remember).

2048 - yes, there’s an app for that. Slide tiles of the same number together and try to get the 2048 tile. Price: Free.

Piano Tiles - tap the tiles in the correct order in a variety of games. Price: Free, offers in-app purchases.

Flow Free (and Flow Bridges) - connect the colored dots and cover the whole board. Price: Flow Free is initially free and I believe offers in-app purchases, I think Flow Bridges is $0.99 USD.

Pancake Tower - literally you’re just stacking pancakes on a plate (pancakes with faces.). Price: Free.

Android apps (most are also available for iphones, if I’m not mistaken, but I’d double check):

Neko Atsume - most people have heard of this app by now, but for those who haven’t–it means ‘cat collector’ in English, and all you do is trade fish/gold fish (the currency of the game) for food and toys that you put out for different cartoon cats, who come and leave fish and presents for you after playing with the toys (and you can watch them play, which is the stimmy part, along with the music!). Price: Free

Skyburger - like pancake tower, but with a burger, and you usually have specific orders to fill but there are also free-play levels where you just stack as many burgers, onions, etc on the bun as possible. Warning that the app causes the phone to vibrate in your hands if you mess up an order. Price: Free

Juice Jam - sort of like candy crush, but a little less bright and I find a bit easier. Stimmy because it’s still got lots of bright colours. Free, but with in-app purchases for boosts & extra lives. 

Words Free - Basically a word-find puzzle but your finger on the phone traces pastel colours across a white background. Price: free

Here’s a start, with mostly free apps that should all be available on the App Store!

[sensorypeople]

Aah I love Blendoku, Miracle Modus, 2048 and Neko Atsume =D 

I know this is such a stereotypical mobile game, but Candy Crush is also really fun for stimming! My partner uses it all the time to calm down.

Liesel, Mod.

[stimtime]

1010! is really nice and stimmy, and friend who has anxiety used it as a calming thing.

It’s sort of like Tetris; you drag shapes on to a grid to sty and complete a column or row, and once it’s complete it will disappear. If you run out of room, the game is over.

It makes nice clicky sounds and plays some piano notes when you clear out a row/column, and makes a sound like a paper page turning when you get more shapes. The sounds can be turned off, and you can turn the background from white to black if you want it to be less/more bright.

[sensorysurvival]

I’ve heard of 1010 before! Always wanted to try it, will definitely download it next I get the chance. Thanks for the addition ^_^ -mod Rowan

[kshanahan]

French cake decorating.  Feast your eyes

[coolthingoftheday]

Oh my God.

[share-your-stim]

Giveaway Winner Selected!

Thank you to everyone who participated! I counted all the messages sent in, so even if I didn’t respond personally, I still included you.

And the winner is…*drum roll*

@championstevenstone!!!

I’ll be messaging you shortly, and we’ll work out the delivery details privately.

Again, thanks to everyone. I actually got 100+ more followers in the span of this giveaway, even though following was not a requirement. So thanks to all you wonderful new people too.

Keep on stimming!

[share-your-stim]

the signs as stims

Aries: squishing stress balls

Taurus: rocking back and forth

Gemini: chewing on things

Cancer: happy hand flapping

Leo: listening to songs on repeat

Virgo: jumping up and down

Libra: spinning in a chair

Scorpio: fidgeting with hair

Sagittarius: tapping fingers

Capricorn: looking at a sparkle jar

Aquarius: echolalia

Pisces: touching soft things

[share-your-stim]

Revised prizes!

1. Infinite popping edamame fidget (random color)

2. Boink Fidget (random color)

3. Metal snake stim necklace (silver/gunmetal)

4. Swirl Cookie Chewable Necklace (black/white)

I’ll be pulling the winner in the next few days–watch your inbox!

PS: Credit for these amazing items goes to @stimtastic, but they are not affiliated with this giveaway.

****THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED****

[share-your-stim]

Hey again!

Okay! So the prizes have been ordered! Some are different due to things being out of stock, but it's still four different items. I'll put up a pic as soon as I can. But the giveaway is happening!

[share-your-stim]

My lovely stimmers--

I'm so sorry I'm behind on the giveaway. There are a few factors at hand: 1. I was finishing an important project for grad school. 2. I was working monster hours for my job during the holidays. 3. I'm hopelessly disorganized. It's still happening, it just might take a little bit. Also some things are sold out, so I'm going to have to decide if I want to wait or put together a new prize collection. But it WILL happen. Thank you for being so patient with me! I hope you're all doing well in the new year so far, and keep on stimming!

[stimmingprincess-deactivated201]

stimming update december 2015!!

my last stimming post is here: [x]

this is a cute thing that cost £1 - it’s basically a lot of colourful hard plastic straw-like things attached together with elastic that is fun to mess (better two handed but) with a cute to look at, bonus cute baby cat in gif too

this is the best thing i’ve ever bought! i had to save up for a while to be able to afford it but it was worth it because i take it to every lecture because it is quiet and subtle (it also jangles when you shake it which is fun)

this is a heavy sand filled snake honestly how could this possibly not be great

and finally a cute, very soft, happy, ball-shaped giraffe perfect for rubbing on your face or holding in the palm of your hand (his name is bobbles)