Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone have a habit, trait, quirk that is perfectly harmless in itself, nobody else would ever notice, is utterly trivial, but it irritates the hell out of you that you do it, and can't stop doing it?
Mine is when I'm coming to the end of a walk and I get my door key out of my pocket when I'm still about 100m from my front door. Every time without fail. Then I get paranoid that I'm going to drop it down one of the road drains with the metal grills so I put my finger through the keyring to make sure I don't. Why can't I just leave it in my pocket until I reach the front door? Sometimes I try to force myself to do so but my hand keeps going in and out of my pocket involuntarily. Of course there's a chance it's not an ASD thing at all and I'm just weird.
I've got this thing to do with my OCD and anxiety, I think, where I bite down repeatedly almost like I'm eating thin air but my mouth is closed so no one knows I'm doing it. It's really annoying because I can hear it loudly as my teeth chomp against each other. I think this is autism related yours likely is as well, almost like a stim maybe?
Interesting. My dentist keeps asking me if I grind my teeth in my sleep. I told her I have no idea; I'm asleep at the time.
She keeps telling me I should wear a gumshield to bed. I haven't tried it but maybe when you're anxious you could try it? Sorry, not sure what stim means in this context.