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Got any nervous habits?


Pikanyaa

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Having mild ADD, my own list is quite excessive. I don't even know where to begin...

Nail biting: Definitely the biggest one. I've tried more times than I can count throughout my life to stop and have never found any success, so eventually I just said "screw it" and gave up. 95% of the time when I bite, I don't even realize I'm doing it. Sometimes when I'm really bored, I'll take out my nail clipper and try removing some of the built up thick &/or dead skin around my nails. That obviously never ends well, and I usually end up with a bloody nail or two.

Picking at hair: When my hair gets long enough and my concentration is totally lost, I'll pull apart my loose ends. I used to only do it when I knew no one was watching, but now I'll do it whenever the heck I want. I also pull at my eyelashes & eyebrows.

Lip & cheek biting: Also do these. Usually not to the point of bleeding, but that does happen occasionally.

Touching my face: Here's one thing I do way too often, which is also probably why I get sick so easily in the winter. Scratch my nose, rest my face in my hands, and the nail biting goes here too. I also have blackheads EVERYWHERE on my face, so often times at night when I'm getting ready for bed, I'll pinch my cheeks/chin/nose/forehead/etc over spots where I have blackheads to try and pop them, leaving my face red all over but feeling at least a little cleaner. Of course those pores end up filling in again days later, so the point is lost and the cycle continues. I also pop zits, sometimes even before the pus appears on the surface. I'll feel one coming on and force it out early, which usually results in some bleeding too.

Biting the end of pens & pencils: The lifecycle of my mechanical pencils- lose the eraser cap, begin nibbling the plastic eraser holder, eventually nibbles lead to parts of eraser holder breaking off, enough parts break off that the eraser falls out, without eraser the leads cannot be held in, so throw out pencil & use a new one. Repeat.

Funny noises: Sometimes I'll hum to myself, but not songs or tunes. More like little high pitched squeals followed by low notes and swinging back up. When I was younger, my mom used to blame this nervous habit on Pokemon, thinking that I was mimicking Pokemon cries. Also on rare occasions when I'm talking to someone and end a sentence, I'll repeat the last word under my breath for no reason. My brother's teased me for this before and I adamantly denied doing this (knowing full well I was lying). Other stuff that fall under this umbrella are the occasional spit bubbles and rhythmatic breathing (same idea as the humming).

Talking fast: I've seen on some sites that this counts too, and I don't think it's just the New Yorker in me. :P On occasion I'll trip over my words and end up doing a Porky Pig and going "BLEH" before I get out what I was trying to say.

Nose picking: Another thing I hardly notice I do sometimes, only really when I don't have tissues nearby or fear that blowing my nose might lead to a nose bleed. (I have very weak blood vessels in my nose, which causes me to get nose bleeds easily, sometimes even randomly.) This is one thing I never do when nobody's watching. I made that mistake once when I was in elementary school on the bus, and all the children and even the driver harassed me the entire ride to school. -_-; (That was one of my worst experience with bullying, aside from the time when a girl who kept claiming she wanted to be friends tried to jab me in the neck with a pencil.)

Leg shaking: I can sit still if something has my full attention or I'm busy biting my pencil, but if not, my leg sometimes shakes to occupy itself as if it has a motor running. Or I'll at least bounce my feet up and down.

Bad sitting positions: I think this counts. I have a habit of sitting with my legs crossed, or more often, one or both being scrunched up to my chest. My parents used to tell me to stop sitting like a monkey at restaurants, which fortunately was one thing I was able to accomplish. I still sit in weird positions at home though. Usually I'm not comfortable sitting unless I have at least one leg elevated.

OCD organization: This is actually one thing I no longer do but had problems with when I was a tween. Some night for some inexplicable reason, I felt like I had to touch and readjust everything on my desk and dresser before hopping into bed, even if the items were already perfectly positioned. I also sometimes felt the need to touch and run my hands over the last objects I saw before turning off my light. On rare occasions it was so bad that I had to look up at my ceiling before turning off my light so I'd have nothing to want to touch. As I mentioned before, I fortunately no longer feel the need to do this and can go to bed with an organized clutter on my dresser.

Well, that was oddly therapeutic. I'm even more of a weirdo that I thought.

Share yours below!

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AnomalyEternal

I do the whole jiggle my leg up and down thing. I do it when nervous, bored or thinking really intently and most of the time I don't realise I'm even doing it.

I click pens. I find it relaxing, others do not.

I pick at my nails. I again do this without thinking. Even if I'm concentrating on not doing it, I'll suddenly realise I'm doing it.

I crack fingers/knees/ankles/toes.

I randomly say 'boop' or 'boop da woop boop' or 'shoop da woop' or something along those lines. I'm not sure why I say it, it just kinda happens :blink: Especially if it's really quiet.

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words are futile devices

The main one for me is playing with my eyelashes. It usually begins at night, when I'm zoned out on my laptop or watching TV. I'll just start running my fingernails through my eyelashes, brushing them underneath the nails. At the same time I'll use another finger to kind of pull at my lashes. It's a whole little ritual that I repeat usually for a couple of hours, until I've managed to scrape all the mascara off my eyelashes (and it all ends up underneath my nails, which is kind of gross). This habit also causes my lashes to curl up at an extreme angle and often times a few of them break off or fall out completely. I don't know what caused it to start, but I've been doing this for a couple of years now. Earlier this year I actually "quit" for several weeks, but a stressful night thinking about the future caused me to "relapse" and now I'm back in the rut of it. I'd like to stop again, because it does get annoying having to constantly clean the mascara from my fingernails. Plus my eyelashes had all started to grow back longer and thicker, and I miss that!

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I click pens. I find it relaxing, others do not.

Oh yes, I click my pens and mechanical pencils all the time. I have yet to have someone go off on me for it since I know that can be annoying, but it's just so relaxing, as you said.

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I do the leg and pen thing a lot.. I also bite and drag my lips a lot if that makes any sense X'D

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IceHurricane

I wouldn't call these nervous habits, but just habits I do on a regular basis.

Body Movements

I always have to have a part of my body moving at all times. (Unless I'm sleeping obviously). Usually it's my legs or feet, but if I'm in a position where I can't move my legs or feet, I rock back and forth (eg. sitting on the ground with my legs crossed) If I'm standing, I rock back and fourth on my heels.

Body Rubbing

I rub my body constantly. If I feel anything on my body that's not supposed to be there (blackheads, pimples etc.), I'm constantly rubbing it. Usually my face, arms, shoulders, legs, feet, neck, anything I can reach honestly. My body has to be as smooth, and bump-less as possible or else I feel really dirty.

Screwing up my face

I can't really describe what I do, but I screw up my face a lot. It usually involves furrowing my eyebrow, twitching my nose & I do something with my lips.

Chewing

I chew on anything I can find. I like rubber the best though. I used to chew pens and pencils, but I always tore up my mouth, and I used to always have things break inside my mouth which also cuts it up a lot. I now chew gum so I won't chew anything else I shouldn't. If I can't get a hold of anything to chew on, I chew on the inside of my mouth. Mostly my bottom lip, but also my cheeks sometimes.

Touching my feet

If I'm not doing anything with my hands, I always touch my feet (If I can reach them). So if I'm sitting down, I'll either sit crossed legged and play with my feet, or bring my leg up in order to reach, but I always play with my feet. If I can't play with me feet, and my hands aren't occupied, I play with my lips.

I used to bite my nails, but I finally kicked the habit last Halloween!! I'm so proud of myself for that. I probably have more habits, and I'll add more if I can think of any.

Oh and now that you mention it, I have horrible sitting positions too! I always have my legs to my chest, or sometimes I'll actually have my feet up on the back of the couch so I'm basically upside down.

Also when I'm laying down, I always have one arm up until it gets tired, then I switch arms. There's no reason for this, it just feels right until both arms get tired then I'm satisfied.

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Sometimes I still catch myself biting my lip, although this has has become less common as I've aged.

Nose crinkle...This is a huge one! I always crinkle my nose. It's not a nervous habit, more of something soothing...? I've had it since I could remember, probably because when I was a baby my dad would pinch my nose and afterward I would crinkle it. I didn't know I had this habit until I was 10. I was discussing with my friends bad habits/quirks. Nail biting and picking scabs were some that were mentioned. When I said "I don't think I have one", they just kind of giggled (I once tried to gain a nail biting habit because I thought it was cool). When I said that, they said:

"No, you have one-- nose crinkling!"

"Don't worry, it's cute."

"Addie-crinkle, Addie-crinkle"

It's was funny. And I have grown to love my nose crinkle ^-^

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Biting nails, lips, hair, anything to hand, pen lids etc, I even used to eat paper on occasion, if it was there XD I don't bite my hair so much now that I let it grow a lot longer, but I still put it in my mouth or chew on it sometimes. It's not good to eat hair.

I would try to stop biting my nails if I knew that they wouldn't break or get dirt under them. I grew them once and spent the time I would usually spend biting them cleaning them, so I'd rather just not have any and save the hassle.

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Mycroft is Yourcroft

My poor nails have suffered intensely over the last 5 years, they are a shadow of their former glory.

I also bite my lips a lot, and nip off split ends in my hair if I find one.

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Biting nails, lips and when it was long enough, my hair. Oh, and staring at the floor intently so I don't have to make eye contact, I hate eye contact when I'm nervous.

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i dont think i can call these nervous habits as i do them al the time but they do worsen when im nervous so maybe that counts

chewing on stuff: usually pens and i dont chew as so much roll them over my teeth do they never end up with bumps and dents n them from chewing

playing with my hands: this is the seconds biggest thing i do i usually have something in my hands to play with ill often do so with my watch as i cant wear it all day especially if its hot

and my biggest thing is rocking in place i just do it and most of te time i dont notice ive had people ask me if i have a disablity or mental condition i belive i scared my friends sister by doing it and ive been told off a few times by my mother to sit still in public (as if im doing it on purpose <_<)

and i have another behavrioul tick but thats more in the line of a slight OCD so i dont think it would fit here

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I don't know what category mine would fit under? I have shed all the OCD related habits. I do scratch my ankles when watching my footie team. The more nervous I get (which is very nervous, given the team I support) the more I scratch. They usually end up bleeding.

It is a fascinating subject, in my opinion, and I really enjoy spotting others' ticks and habits.

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Janus the Fox

Nail biting, pacing, full facial ticking, rare hair pulling, anger, restlessness, stimming, obsessive scratching, nervous heat rash, general un-comfortability, rocking, racing thoughts, rare uncontrollable shivering, lip biting and probably so much more as a lot of nervousness is anxiety driven, coupled with Tourette's and a described 'Obcessive-Compulsive Personality' and the autistic spectrum, I presume are connected.

I'm not diagnosed OCD to claim to have 'slight' traits. Its a lot more complex as a simple diagnostic label... I've been like this my whole life.

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littleheartsofjoy

I try to remove lint from my purse and coat or sometimes even my top. It might not be always lint but I just try to remove something, to give myself something to focus on.

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Crealityisabeast

I bit my lip, and shake my leg. I've realized that at work i'll bit down on my lip when i'm doing things (not biting, but just keeping my teeth on my bottom lip). that last one started pretty recently.

i also constantly move like i'm going to push my glasses up with my thumb (i push my glasses up by the bridge with my thumb, it's a really odd way of doing it). i don't often wear contacts, but i do it then too. just something to move my hands around when i'm nervous i guess.

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i have a nervous laugh when i am uncomfortable.

i also look down and away a little bit.

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TheKindredSoul

I do the leg and pen thing a lot.. I also bite and drag my lips a lot if that makes any sense X'D

People who click their pens trigger my nervous habits. I do not like pen clicking, at all.

My nervous habits include: nervous laughter (I am shy), playing with my hair, leg twitching, playing with my fingers or whatever happens to be near me at the moment, and distracting myself by diverting my focus to something in the room (or near me, like a book).

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If I am alone and feeling nervous I click my fingers, wiggle my big toes, pace, randomly break out running, talk to myself, go on random cleaning sprees and run my fingers through my hair

If I am with people I wring my hands, rub my fingers together to click silently, wiggle my big toes, touch my hair a lot, and sometimes pace

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