Pacing as a stim?

That is the way I handle stress by pacing have doe this most of my life my wife has watches after me.

I do this on the phone, in the house, outside. The more anxious I am, the more I do it and faster I do it...I also talk' faster and move my hands and fingers. 

I think that I read somewhere a long time ago, that very prolific writer (I think it was J.R.R. Tolkein) used to pace about around his house a lot. I think there's many people who do it. 

Ha-ha I do that

Sorry - I didn't mean to come across harshly.

I find trying to suppress my stimming increases my anxiety/overload.

I mostly stim when anxious or overloaded.

I usually don't feel able to stim fully when masked and out in public.

If I couldn't stim freely in my own home I would be a wreck.

Hence my suggestion to try and mitigate the effect of the stimming rather than force a change.

I'm just looking for advice from people who stim / know people who stim this way to see if they have had similar situations where the activity might have been disruptive and how they dealt with it. My own concern for the carpets is pretty low in the big picture, but I'd prefer to find a compromise that allows my son to stim while minimising disruption if possible. It might not be possible, but it doesn't hurt to ask about other people's experiences hopefully.

AutisticDad said:

will wear down the carpets

This is the only concern? Really?

How much carpet would have to be replaced when it does? Can a join be put in either side of the area that gets worn (so only a little bit has to be replaced)?

We had carpet tiles when I was growing up - easy to replace the sections we (frequently) damaged!

My teenage son does this every day. It annoys my wife a great deal as she's concerned that the continual back and forth over the same part of the upstairs will wear down the carpets (we've just had new ones fitted) and leads to tension. While I don't want the carpets damaging, I understand that this pacing is a necessary part of his condition to keep from sensory overload. If he's told to stop he gets upset and thumps his bed or other furniture in his room.

He's had this behaviour for a long time but now he's practically an adult is when it's becoming more of a problem and I'm wanting to see if there's any compropmise. I certainly don't want to restrict him from stimming or any other behaviour that helps him deal with how he's feeling, and I'm wondering if I can persuade him to do it downstairs in the kitchen / utility room (which is tiled).

For those of you who pace like this, have you had similar issues with other members of your family asking you to stop, and were you able to make any changes? What would be a good way to apporach the subject?

Also, can anyone provide links to good resources regarding pacing and other stimming that explains it's importance and neccessity to people who might not understand why autistic people need to do this? I've seen the page on this site that covers it, but any other materials are also welcome.

Thank you.

I'm not officially diagnosed, but this is something I've done all my life. If I'm on the phone I'm walking in circles around my room or else I get jittery and can't focus on anything the other person is saying. But phone calls have always been hard to begin with and I realized recently that I copy the way my mom talks on the phone down to a T. Inflection and everything. That's the only way I can get through phone calls and I've recently realized that that IS masking. But I mostly stim by rocking when I'm anxious, hand flapping and screeching when I'm excited, and I'm always picking at my nails or snapping or flicking my fingers. 

Good on you kind sir/madam

I've been resisting doing this for years because of how it looks. But after my diagnosis I now let myself pace as much as I want.

I can do an hour a day easily and feel better for it, easily get 4km. I do get told to stop it and that it's annoyingso I try to do it behind closed doors or when no one is around, which is easy as I'm mostly awake at night atm

Only got small spaces of about 5/6 steps before I gotta turn 180

It's also been a good idea to keep pacing around the house during a fairly strict lock-down regime in which I rarely leave the house. We live in a rather tall building, so up & down stairs all day doing chores has helped me to stay relatively slim.

I enjoy pacing too. It's also light exercise.

haha I used to something like that as a kid, I arranged objects on a shelf where sun was shining in the afternoon in a specific way so shadcows never touched themselves, and then I would watch them dance by moving my head

Yes, Gaza. I do this a lot when I find myself forced to wait for something to happen or I'm made to wait to be able to do something. It can be very soothing especially when combined with visual stimming, such as counting objects around me, or staring at them in a certain sequence. Occasionally, repetitive blinking and/or covering and uncovering my eyes works too. 

eh i do that when im waiting, especially waiting outside for a lift, walking back and forward out of boredom probs even thinking i could have walked back at the amount of steps i dont waiting lol

Hi Gaza69! It is totally normal. Sometimes l’ll pace in my home. I tend to rock back and forth and flap my hands when I stim. Pacing is considered a stim and again it’s totally normal 

Matsukaze82 said:

walk around in circles

oh yes, same here, I do not like phonecalling at all.

and then there is pacing to focus my thoughts, works if I can make at least 5 steps forward, then turn around, and again 5 steps forward, I do hand stimming along pacing as well

I used to do it as part of my teaching approach, moving around a horseshoe of students, keeping them guessing whose turn it was next etc. i also used to pace around the room while the students were doing mingle activities, to both make sure they were basically doing the required task and also to occasionally join in the activity myself. I guess most of them knew i was a bit eccentric, but it rarely seemed to bother them. It kept us all on out toes really. And yes, I do consider what I was engaged into to be a form of stimming. I found that it really helped me to concentrate on their response, and reflect on what should best happen next. At the time I came to a self-realisation, I was actually doing a video observed class. I was partly alerted by the stimming, but also by my whole general manner in the classroom. I still figure that it was a constructive and productive approach. And not without humour.

I move about the place when using my phone, too. 

I must remember to destroy those kids after my breakfast has been eaten! :)