Stimming/Self-stimulation: most common in individuals on the autism spectrum, but also done by those with anxiety, stimming (stim for short) is the act of engaging in repetitive motions--such as rocking, flapping hands, making noises, and touching or chewing on things--as a way to express emotions or self-soothe.
when anxiety has me ensnared in its clawed and crooked grip sunk deep into my bones my spine becomes a rocking chair pretzel-ing itself into a shape that knows how to rid this body of the gritted teeth and shaking hands and tears that are a near-constant and burning promise
and this movement the motion of moving back and forth planted firmly on mattress or couch or carpet or hardwood floor it grounds me and soothes the ache of a mind in turmoil in a way that unzipping my flesh never did
but the motion that is heavily put into practice while standing is a noticeable thing that is too calculated and controlled to be played off as intoxication or any other substance to quite the roiling of my thoughts
and when my little sister looks at me next to her with fluttering hands and adding new indents of my teeth into my bottom lip and asks me why i am rocking i do not know how to explain the motion to her in a way that she will understand and so i make myself stop by forcing the movement into my leg
and many summers ago when i sat on the mattress in the livingroom of my father’s apartment that was also my bedroom and began to rock back and forth to quell the rising tide of anxiety from the anger in his eyes and voice and he snapped at me to “stop being such an aspie ****” my only response was to rock faster and bite back the tears that threatened to drown the both of us