Fork in the air

I once, when I was 14 years of age, had a complete stranger identify me as my Father's Daughter ("You're Mr X's girl !!!") ...merely on the basis that, as the man observed to me (apparently, as I really had not noticed myself before) we both "talk with our hands" (as my family call it) in the same way - in some situations (frustrated / enthusiastic / exasperated / stressed / celebrating something / horrified or disgusted about something / pointing out some safety aspect / explaining somehting ...and more!  ...i.e. probably all the feelings / emotions we wouldn't ourselves know we were experiencing at the time if you were to ask us about it) - one or more of our hands held up outstretched gesticulating in some detail (maybe trying to convey the magnitude of what we need to express?) in the air in front of us / off one side of us.  So, thanks for that revelation random guy!.  Nothing to see here!  Nothing additional / new to add to the list of potential sources of embarrassment then? 

If it works well for us - which I believe it probably does, it is possibly really quite important to us - I feel that I need to resist the temptation to suppress the technique.

That said, something which I have taken to doing e.g. when I know I am attending something potentially particularly stressful (like large family gatherings, or training courses or a long bus / train journey) I put in my bag a small (A6 sized), ring-bound plain paper sketchpad (so it sits open / flat on the table next to my place setting / on my lap, along with pen with it's own clip or a propelling pencil with it's own clip (clip the pen / pencil on the notepad when not in use so I don't keep droppping it).  Then, when my brain seems to need an escape / distraction / input I can write some notes or doodle or sketch something or plan something more interesting I would like to look forward to doing another time.  People are generally not usually particularly interested in what I am doing with my notepad.  I have just been able to take a brain-mini-break-in-situ - which is less of anybody else's business.  I am happy to call that a small win.

Ironic, since it was a Children's BBC show; back in the day.

Phil Redmond's Big Break.

I do the same. I always have since I was little..almost like I'm conducting an invisible orchestra.

Oh you probably can't imagine the half of it !  I'm an extremely accomplished vision of officious NT when I need to be.....but when I relax, or I'm tired, or stressed, or happy, or excited, or fixated .... things can get weird and/or wonderful pretty quick !!

Thank you! Yes, sometimes I write with my finger on my leg. I will try this one. Sometimes I wonder how mysterious human brain is… and your case is also interesting! I remember having my own music in my head when I sit next to some engine making monotonous noise. Then I add other sounds to it in my head and it plays I feel like I really listen to music. I could do it while sitting next to my granny’s old Russian refrigerator or in the tram. 

I can conduct music, with my arms and body, that is only playing in my own head.  If I'm with people, I pretend (for their sake) that I am 'stretching' ..... or limbering up for exercise.

If I had your behaviour (sky writing,) I would probably try to lower my arms and just hover the fork over the plate, and allow myself to write "down low" above the plate....or even put down the fork, and write with my finger under the table.

Just a thought, for you.

I love it. It's so interesting seeing how different things were compared to now, like the music, the clothes, even school... It's almost like going back in time whilst having really interesting characters and plots to follow along the way. I wish they made shows like it now.

This picture made me laugh!

Been re-watching too. It's taken a while to get to (for me) the golden era of Mr Bronson, Ziggy Greaves, all that crowd. Worth the wait! Been fun seeing things from the very beginning :-) Glad you're enjoying it, Katy. It's a fascinating time capsule of changing society as well. 

I've watched Grange Hill on ITVX, maybe before my time but such a great show I really enjoyed it

Thank you so much for your answer! I’m not the only alien doing such things! 

It could be you may be experiencing a type of automatic writing, which is a dissociative state in which you write without conscious control. This is something I can relate with to a degree. This can be a symptom of a number of different conditions, including echolalia (I have this) and stimming, which as you know is a part of autism. Echolalia is the involuntary repetition of words or phrases or actions.

I was diagnosed with it during my early teens, there's no treatment really other than therapy. Therapy worked well for me.

If you're concerned though I would talk to your GP about it and see what they think.