Walking as a stim

[megacomic]

I put on my spotify and I walk a good 2 or 3 miles when I need to unwind.

 

[Merete]

I am a bad one for pacing back and forth, although I don't do it as much as I used to. When walking however I can start thinking about things (usually repeating) in my head, then time passes and I often don't remember most of the trip, people say I often appear to stare at the ground as I'm walking. If someone talks to me and I reply, E.g. a beggar asks me for money, my reply often repeats in my head for ages, going round and round, this is apparently mental stimming and it can even happen when I reply on this forum, I can often repeat things in my head and quite a bit of time can pass without me realising. It can happen with music too, although I believe that even NTs can repeat catchy tunes in their heads, it's probably more difficult for many of us to stop it however.

I have this too... Words, sentenced, sounds.... After hearing them, they go around in my head all the time. Sometimes it helps to say it out loud. But sometimes not. When I walk, I hear them with each step- like a rhythm. I get crazy sometimes. What do you do stop it?

 

[pjcnet]

I have this too... Words, sentenced, sounds.... After hearing them, they go around in my head all the time. Sometimes it helps to say it out loud. But sometimes not. When I walk, I hear them with each step- like a rhythm. I get crazy sometimes. What do you do stop it?

Most of the time I don't try to stop it, but if you want to you need to make a conscious effort, then I would say distraction is probably the only way. When walking make a conscious effort to look around and actually observe things in detail, E.g. look at a passing tree, look at it's branches, the texture of the bark and it's leaves, what type of tree is it, how long has it been there, does it have any distinguishing features Etc. Etc. Even when walking the on same route you've walked many times before you may be really surprised at what you might have missed in the past, I've suddenly noticed things that I've completely ignored for years and never consciously observed.

 

[Coupe]

I pace sometimes, too, especially when I'm talking on the phone. Talking on phones is a source of anxiety for me, but pacing or just standing up and walking around aimlessly seems to help. It doesn't make the anxiety go away completely, but like with any stim, it makes the anxiety easier to handle, if that makes sense. Things can get kind of complicated if, say, I'm talking to someone on my cell phone and and happen to wander to a part of the house where the reception isn't as good, but oh well.

I think you should by all means walk around if it's a stim that makes you feel better. It's harmless, and walking is a good thing to do anyway.

 

[Nightingale121]

I am a bad one for pacing back and forth, although I don't do it as much as I used to. When walking however I can start thinking about things (usually repeating) in my head, then time passes and I often don't remember most of the trip, people say I often appear to stare at the ground as I'm walking.

I can relate to this.
I stare at the ground as I'm walking most of the time unless I need to find something specific and have to focus on everything around me.
I think it's partly a mechanism to focus on one small area (the ground right in front of me) in order to not get overwhelmed by all the things when looking at the houses, cars, people etc.
This also causes me not to pay attention to the other people walking around, which can be a problem because there are people who find it rude if I don't greet them on the street. But I just don't notice them in the first place, so I cannot greet them. If someone greets me first, I'll usually get out of my "thinking mode" and reply to them though it might take some time to switch and sometimes it's too late by then and the other person has already walked by and is angry with me for not greeting.

If someone talks to me and I reply, E.g. a beggar asks me for money, my reply often repeats in my head for ages, going round and round, this is apparently mental stimming and it can even happen when I reply on this forum, I can often repeat things in my head and quite a bit of time can pass without me realising. It can happen with music too, although I believe that even NTs can repeat catchy tunes in their heads, it's probably more difficult for many of us to stop it however.

I do this too.
In the case of replies it rather happens with short replies instead of longer ones, so it usually doesn't apply to forum posts for me. However, it might happen anyway, focusing on one particular sentence of my forum post. It is more likely to happen with replies I am not completely satisfied with or if think I might have expressed something incorrectly. Then I repeat it again and again, which isn't always a good thing because this way I focus on small possible mistakes in wording more than I probably should. The other person probably won't be bothered by it that much, but I worry anyway.
Apart from this I also repeat quotes from shows, books or movies as well as music in my head. This is quite random.

Pacing laps around my sofa. Yeah. Helps me think my deepest thoughts.

Though I was made fun of it by friends and family. Hence the nickname "Judge". My stim.

Only around the sofa?
My laps were more elaborated at home when I was a child.
We had two sofas standing on the opposite sides of the living room table. I walked laps around all of these in one bigger circle. I often included the dining room as well. The dining room wasn't really a separate room with a door, there was only some sort of very short corridor in between. So I walked in some sort of oval with one end being the living room table and the other one the dining table. It's also fun to walk in an 8-shape instead, with the "x" of the 8 in the small corridor.
Speaking of the corridor: There was a rectangular carpet in the corridor. The pattern at the edge was like a small rectangular "street" all around the carpet. I used this "street" for my laps occasionally as well.
Since I moved to a different place I haven't done this as much anymore. I do more walks outside nowadays and walk back and forth or in circles while waiting for the train.
I agree with you that it helps with thinking.

I find when I go for a walk unless I am listening to music or have company my inner monologue tends to become more of an outer monologue without me realising, I have genuinely walked around holding a dead battery phone to my ear just so it didn't draw as much attention

I never tried that with the phone. But then my main problem with monologues in my head isn't that much that I actually start talking in an outer monologue but rather do some gestures or facial expressions during my monologues, especially if it's not a real monologue but more of an inner dialogue with someone else.
The music in my head turns into actual singing, humming or whistling more regularly though.

I put on my spotify and I walk a good 2 or 3 miles when I need to unwind.

I do that too only that I don't put on spotify or any kind of actual music but "listen to" music in my head. I cannot stand listening to music via headphones for a long time, so this is a good alternative for me. It's also quite flexible. I can mix songs, change the key or do other variations.
The walk itself is calming for me too. I often do these walks to calm down and unwind. This is one of the main reasons for me to do my weekly paper routes. It's calming after a week of my regular job and I can begin to unwind as a weekend preparation of some sort. Plus, it helps with thinking in general, so I have lots of time to process situations of the past week during the walk.