Unmasking and Stimming: Dealing with Social Pressure

I'm trying to become okay with stimming more because I suppress my stims a lot, so I kinda relate. It's tricky, though, because while my friends are ND, people in the stores look at me weird if I start flapping my hands and stuff. I'm trying to learn to ignore it and do it anyway, since it's not like they're paying for my meds and therapy.

you shouldn't hide who you are at all but sometimes what helps me is a more secretive stim with my hands or my feet that might make me look "normal" and i use quotations bc sometimes normal ppl are rlly boring and mean

i think that you should just be yourself. theres nothing wrong with being yourself. it doesnt matter if they think differently, at the end of the day you are YOU and shouldn't have to hide it

I just say it makes me happy, or I think it feels nice. I don't really worry about people I don't know. If I don't have to talk to them what they think about me isn't really going to impact me at all.

Explain yourself if you want to but you don’t have to. It’s not your job to educate anyone. Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. I find that I’m much happier now that I allow myself to stim more.

Just be yourself. There isn't anything wrong with that and if others say otherwise it's just because they wish they could be as free to do as they feel