Am I misunderstanding stimming?

Hi,

I wanted to ask about stimming. People talk about stimming being a good thing and something you can do to help regulate yourself. I stim when I'm stressed but it doesn't make me feel better, its just sort of a compulsion.

Is that what it's like for other autistic people?

Because I've been feeling really jealous that other autistic people talk about stimming as if it is this magical outlet that makes them feel amazing, but I started to wonder that maybe I misunderstood how stimming benefits people. Maybe it's not like how I imagine. 

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  • I'm the same, tends to make my fingers very sore too. I tend to start with the side of my thumbs and end up with them bleeding. If I start doing when  at work and end up making a mess of them I go get a plaster and stick it round. Fiddling with that them becomes a thing but at least it's not doing any more damage.