What are your strange nervous habits?

[RedRosesForMe]

Not like tapping your fingers or bouncing your leg. What fidgety things do you do that would seem really odd to others?

Me, I play with tape. I pull off a piece, roll it up, and squish the stickiness. When that spot stops being sticky, I'll unroll it and reroll it to a stickier spot.

I also pick at my lips. They are constantly chapped, so I pick the chapped skin off. When I'm really stressed, or they're really chapped, I won't stop despite pain or bleeding. Sometimes I'll hit a nerve or something and my lip will swell or I'll do it absent-mindedly and suddenly realize that my fingers are all bloody. That's not all the time, though, usually I just feel a chapped spot of thick skin and a quick pull gets rid of it.

So, in what ways do you fidget that will make me feel less crazy?

[Missy2U]

Playing with my rings. I have one on each finger and I'm constantly fooling with them.

[New Beginning]

Sometimes I pluck at my beard hairs. Today I think I only plucked a single hair. But I had to restrain myself.

[anamnesis]

Biting my nails. And my hangnails. And my cuticles. Also, eating my fingers clean off my hand on especially rare occasions.

I've also noticed that I scratch my head and raise my eyebrows too often, perhaps attempting to appear pensive.

[3acresandatruck]

I keep a pebble in my shoe and constantly fidget with it with my toes. Each pair of shoes has it's own pebble in the left shoe; there are replacement pebbles on top of my chest of drawers in case I somehow lose one. I've done this as long as I can remember.

[OneCentStamp]

Holy cow, you folks are nuts.

Anyway, I'm a doodler. And by "doodle," I mean that I'll draw enormously intricate shapes and curlicues, which always have to end up radially symmetrical or I go crazy. It's constant and unconscious; I keep a legal pad on the left side of my desk (I'm a lefty) that's strictly for doodling, just so that I don't inadvertantly ruin important papers with my "art," and each day there's a unique design on the top sheet of the pad.

[Miss Jean Louise]

Shortly after I learned to type, I got in the habit of typing out sentences when I was nervous. Not on a keyboard, not even on a desk or table but random "air typing." I wasn't even concious of it and still find myself doing it every now and then when I am really stressed out.

[NightRabbit]

I bite the sides of my nails until they bleed and become raw. I do the same thing with my lips. Sometimes I'll run my fingernails over my face to find any little bit of skin that's peeling.

If I get really stressed, I'll take a pair of tweezers to my legs and tweeze out my leg hair. I'll also overtweeze my eyebrows when stressed, too, although this one is totally noticable in a bad way so I try to keep that particular impulse curtailed...

[Audrey Levins]

I chew on my jewelry.

I wear sterling, and most of my rings are misshapen with teeth marks. I have, over time, bent a couple of them to the point that they're unwearable.

My boyfriend gnaws his fingernails to a pulp.

I slap his hand whenever I catch him doing it, and I get The Look whenever he catches me gnawing on my rings.

I don't think it's working. We just do it furtively now.

[pasunejen]

I dig my thumbnails into the insides of my fingers, and my index finger nails into the insides of my thumbs. I'm really trying to cut this out, because I've got nasty calluses just under the second joint of each finger/thumb. But it's hard!

[Labelless]

I'm an over tweezer. I've discovered this in the last week. I had (to me at least) longish white hairs on the under side of my chin and neck. I have a pair of tweezers in my bag, and while surfing the net just started going to town. Though if you're not careful in that area, you get bumps, and now I'm a bit bumpy on my right side. (Left handed tweezer.)

The worst though is I run my fingers along things. Like paper. The edges of the paper, lift it up a bit and I'll start running my fingers along it. I'll do the same thing with thinner hems of clothing too. At night, the edge of the sheet or pillowcase. It's oddly soothing to me though. My mom said I started doing this before I could walk though. Apparently I would coo and gurgle while doing it. I don't make sounds now though, but when caught will be quite embarrassed.

[BrknButterfly]

Originally Posted by RedRosesForMe

I also pick at my lips. They are constantly chapped, so I pick the chapped skin off. When I'm really stressed, or they're really chapped, I won't stop despite pain or bleeding.

I'll do this pretty much any where on my body to an existing wound. Some times I don't even notice the blood until something else catches my attention and I look down at my hands.

It isn't very attractive, so it is something I am trying really hard to stop. Not so easy.

[Rhiannon8404]

Biting my cuticles, not so much my nails since I started wearing dark polish.

Picking at owies, scratching the scabs off.

Scratching my scalp. Pulling my hair.

Biting the skin off my lips. Chewing the inside of my lip or cheek.

Grinding my teeth.

[bouv]

Give me a beer bottle, and it will be sans label soon enough.

[LawMonkey]

I'm another lip biter/picker, though I think not to the extent that you all are; I generally stop when it gets painful, or when I just barely draw blood--not like I'm getting more than a tiny dab on my fingers, most of the time.

I also twirl my hair; I think I picked this up in the several years I sported a ponytail.

My most eccentric (and intractable) habit would probably be chewing the collars of my shirts, t-shirts and similar collars especially, though I do it to some extent with my button-down Hawaiian shirts as well. This ultimately leads to completely ruined shirts for me. (I am even now fighting the urge between sentences here.)

I don't know if I would categorize any of these as "nervous" habits, though, in the sense some of yours are. To some extent, they're all associated with thinking for me, especially the shirt-chewing thing. I often find myself gnawing on a thoroughly soaked collar while working on a problem...

[auntie em]

Originally Posted by Rhiannon8404

Chewing the inside of my lip or cheek.

That's me. I eat the heck out of the inside of my mouth, because the effects are not as obvious to the casual observer as, say, nail biting, which I have never done..

I do totally become a hangnail/ragged cuticle freak, and have actually stepped out of meetings at work in order to go back to my desk, get my clippers, and clip one off. If for some reason I can't get to clippers soon enough, I'll pluck obsessively at the offending hangnail or cuticle until it's gone - even if I cause bleeding.

[SomeUserName]

Originally Posted by pasunejen

I dig my thumbnails into the insides of my fingers, and my index finger nails into the insides of my thumbs. I'm really trying to cut this out, because I've got nasty calluses just under the second joint of each finger/thumb. But it's hard!

This. I do the exact same thing. I have done it as long as I can remember. The skin around my thumb nails is very thick now so it takes lots of jabbing to get it to hurt. It is almost like an itch I MUST scratch.

I also wring my hands when I am nervous so I try to keep one hand in my pocket at all times to prevent it, doesn't work well when I am sitting though.

[Layla01]

I chew the tops of pens and pencils - I think it has something to do with the time that I stopped smoking - instead of having a cigarette in my mouth, I'd have a pen. It's very embarrassing to have someone ask to borrow a pen and it's all mangled....luckily not too many people ask...

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by 3acresandatruck

I keep a pebble in my shoe and constantly fidget with it with my toes. Each pair of shoes has it's own pebble in the left shoe; there are replacement pebbles on top of my chest of drawers in case I somehow lose one. I've done this as long as I can remember.

Did you call the pebble "Dare"?


I am a lip and cuticle picker, too, and I will also do it until I bleed. I know I'll regret it but I can't stop myself. For some reason using chapstick makes it even easier to peel my lips so that doesn't stop me.

If I have pen and paper I doodle but I don't draw things I just make line designs, like I'll outline a word repeatedly.

Lately I have been obsessed with my eyebrows and I will constantly feel around my eyebrows for stray hairs. If I find one I have to pluck it, if I can't get a hold of it I will sometimes make my skin raw trying to tweeze it.

Man, I sound like a masochist.

[3acresandatruck]

Originally Posted by Wile E

Did you call the pebble "Dare"?

I had no idea what you were talking about till I did a search on 'pebble' and 'dare'. Apparently something to do with Godspell? But anyway, there's nothing significant about it...it's just a fidgety thing I do. Well, apparently it was the first thing to make a psychologist think I had something called asperger's syndrome, but I'm not even sure if that's something real or not.

[Ms. Pumpkin]

I'm another cuticle and cheek/lip biter. Also, I pick at dry skin on my scalp, until it eventually bleeds, then I pick at the scabs. I'm trying REALLY hard to stop doing it though!

[dangermom]

I'm always trying to stop picking at my nails, and I've improved, but I can't seem to quit.

When reading, I riffle the pages of my book with my right hand. I don't usually know that I'm doing it, and I think I've done it all my life. Luckily, my husband finds it oddly soothing and quite likes it.

[DJ Motorbike]

I crack my knuckles. They crack when I make a tight fist. I don't realize I'm doing it most of the time.

[Inner Stickler]

Originally Posted by 3acresandatruck

I had no idea what you were talking about till I did a search on 'pebble' and 'dare'. Apparently something to do with Godspell? But anyway, there's nothing significant about it...it's just a fidgety thing I do.

Yes, there is a song in Godspell where one of the women sings about a pebble in her shoe and calling it dare. It's one of my favorite songs, actually.

Labelless, do you go with the groove of the paper or against it? Because one of my nervous tics is to take a notebook and sort of strum the edge of the paper between the metal spiral. Does that sound familiar?

[Terrifel]

I have a habit of nervously tugging at my forelock. I guess I have brittle hair, or am just nervous a lot, because that lock of hair right in front is real short. Once the barber asked me cheerfully if I'd burned it off while freebasing. He's a funny guy.

My relatives have noticed the hair-pulling habit, but I'm not sure whether it's noticeable at work. I'm sure it looks odd when I'm doing it, though. For a while I wore a hat to try and break myself of the habit, but later decided that the resulting horrible forehead rash from my constantly sweat-drenched scalp was probably worse than the original problem.

Anyway, I fully expect to go bald before much longer, and then I won't have to worry about it anymore.

[RedRosesForMe]

Originally Posted by Terrifel

For a while I wore a hat to try and break myself of the habit, but later decided that the resulting horrible forehead rash from my constantly sweat-drenched scalp was probably worse than the original problem.

Doesn't it suck when you try to break yourself of a habit but it just ends up worse than before? I have a choice: pick at my lips, or break out. If I don't pick at my lips I'll pick at my face looking for hairs to pluck (I have a couple moles that sprout some nice hairs, awesome) or blemishes to pick at. So the constant face touching irritates my skin and I break out something awful, which leads to more face touching and picking, and the cycle continues.

[movingfinger]

A lady I was seeing asked me why I scratched my eyebrow with the nail of my little finger. I wasn't aware I did it, and still have no reason, other than it feels good.

[Bearflag70]

I rip the corners off paper and roll them around on my fingertips. When the paper softens, I start ripping it into smaller bits and roll those. When those soften, I tear them up again and keep going until I'm left with a bunch of little paper balls that I can't tear anymore because they're too small. I roll those around for a bit, then toss 'em and start again.

Another thing I do is take a piece of paper that has old notes scratched on it and draw boxes around the various notes I've written. Then, I continue the lines from each box outward until they either run off the page or intersect another box. Each box becomes an imaginary neighborhood and the lines become imaginary roads forming the basis of a road network. From there, I draw out an entire road network of lines crossing the page. Once all the roads are in place, I take each intersection in the congested areas and draw little ramps like an interchange to ease the flow of traffic... all while rolling little balls of paper in my other hand. Shoulda been a traffic engineer or urban planner or something.

[Pixilated]

[quote=Inner Stickler]Yes, there is a song in Godspell where one of the women sings about a pebble in her shoe and calling it dare. It's one of my favorite songs, actually.

yay! someone else who knows Godspell!

I always become hyper and go on a cleaning/organizing binge. Always have to make the bed when I get out of it (I was never this way as a kid). I also bite my nails when my iron level is low (but once it increases it is no longer a prob).

[Ruffian]

I pick at my thumbs with my index or middle finger. I find a rough spot, usually the corner of the nail and cuticle, and start rubbing, then picking, then injuring myself to the point my thumbs are raw. I keep nail clippers in my purse, work desk, and car to help trim away temptation.

However, I had acrylic nails put on three months ago (and I'm decidedly not the type), and it stopped the compulsion. It's like the disconnect of not having *my* nails to do the picking is a turn off.

I got the acrylics also because I'm a middle school teacher, and my students notice such things. Now instead of the teacher with the icky thumbs, I'm the teacher with the cool black, dark blue, dark plum, or darrrrrk dark red nails. Way more hip.

[Labelless]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

Labelless, do you go with the groove of the paper or against it? Because one of my nervous tics is to take a notebook and sort of strum the edge of the paper between the metal spiral. Does that sound familiar?

Both actually. There's the sensation of the smart clack the edge of the paper gives, and then the one for my fingers.
It's very strange indeed.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

Yes, there is a song in Godspell where one of the women sings about a pebble in her shoe and calling it dare. It's one of my favorite songs, actually.
...

One of my favorites, too. I have no idea what is the significance putting a pebble in your show and calling it dare but it's still a lovely song.

Also, I am impressed that 3acresandatruck searched out my somewhat obscure reference.

[Beware of Doug]

I whistle under my breath until you could throttle me.

[corkboard]

I pull at my eyebrow hairs, but just with my fingers, not with a tweezer. It started when I was at work one day reading something and a huge eyebrow hair fell out and landed with a sound on the paper. I could see it falling, first as a blurry shape then as it got closer to the paper it came into focus. When it landed there was an audible sort of "t" sound- this thing was big. It must have been an inch long and thick. I started thinking I must have more of these that are ready, or nearly ready, to fall out, so started picking at them.

Every now and then in my office as I'm reading something particularly dense and complex I'll find myself pulling at my eyebrow hairs and dropping them on the paper. I swear, sometimes I pull out so many I'm surprised I still have eyebrows, but a quick check in the mirror assures me that they're still there and don't really look any different.

[Eupe Lipnerp]

I twirl bic-type pens by their pocket clips. Bend the clip 90º, hold pen by the bent clip, and twirl it like a propeller.

I peel the labels off beer bottles when I'm drinking.

[Bearflag70]

Originally Posted by Bearflag70

I rip the corners off paper and roll them around on my fingertips. When the paper softens, I start ripping it into smaller bits and roll those. When those soften, I tear them up again and keep going until I'm left with a bunch of little paper balls that I can't tear anymore because they're too small. I roll those around for a bit, then toss 'em and start again.

Another thing I do is take a piece of paper that has old notes scratched on it and draw boxes around the various notes I've written. Then, I continue the lines from each box outward until they either run off the page or intersect another box. Each box becomes an imaginary neighborhood and the lines become imaginary roads forming the basis of a road network. From there, I draw out an entire road network of lines crossing the page. Once all the roads are in place, I take each intersection in the congested areas and draw little ramps like an interchange to ease the flow of traffic... all while rolling little balls of paper in my other hand. Shoulda been a traffic engineer or urban planner or something.

I have also sung the Superfriends theme song in the shower off and on for the past ten years. Somehow, it makes me feel like I'm showering at super speed.

[gigi]

I have a number of tics, like snapping my thumbs back and forth between normal and a sort of hyperextended postion, some weird thing I do in the back of my throat, bugging and shifting my eyes. Since I was little, I trace the profile of Hershey kiss in the air or with my eyes or my mind as my mental doodle.

That sounds terrible, but I am usually aware that I am doing them and so I can be discreet about it.

[TroubleAgain]

Cuticle chewing, thumb crease digging, nail picking, cheek biting, air-typing, lip picking fool here. I'm a walking textbook of anxiety-displacement behavior. No amount of meds help.

[Arabella Flynn]

If I'm bored or nervous anywhere there exists scrap paper, the area will be full of little origami doojiggers in short order. Lately it's been tiger lilies and lotus blossoms, since I got tired of cranes.

If I'm really badly off I'll take a pad of paper and a nice thick, dark black pen and just write random things over and over to soothe myself. Sometimes they're song lyrics or poetry/prose passages from other people; sometimes they're fragments of things I've written in the past. If I think people will get nosy I'll usually pick one that's not in English.

I also spent pretty much an entire summer class writing rude haiku about the idiot in the back who was apparently taking the course (sociology of human sexuality) solely so that he could tell us we were all morally bereft, but that was more anger-management than nervousness.

[Voyager]

I twist my hair, but I've got the excuse that it is genetic. I know this because my daughter twisted her hair exactly the same way I twist mine when she was only a few weeks old.

[Ruffian]

This isn't one of my habits, nor is it necessarily a nervous one...but it's one of the more bizarre and amusing ones I've ever heard of.

A friend and coworker of DeathLlama likes to sit on the floor and read...while using a hairdryer. He'll just sit, hold the book with one hand, and the hairdryer with the other. It's relaxing, he says. FTR, his hair is essentially a buzz cut. He told me years ago that as a child, he enjoyed reading while lying on the floor near an air vent while the heater was on.

This man is very well-read and educated, and is currently a school administrator.

He is the proud father of a young infant now; we asked if his son has his own hairdryer. No, was the answer--not yet.

[delphica]

I bit my fingernails when I was a kid, but then I stopped because I wanted nicer nails. Now I catch myself tapping my teeth with my nice long fingernails when I am nervous. I cannot imagine how unattractive this looks and sounds.

Not nervous, but another strange habit is that when I'm on the phone at work, I pick up paperclips and unbend them, and then bend them in an L shape. I try as hard as I can to get as close to a perfect right angle as possible. Sometimes for variety, I will go for a triangle shape. I guess that's not too strange, but a while back, my desk needed to be moved and there was an enormous pile of L shaped (and some triangle) paperclips between the desk and the wall. I had thought I was pretty good at tossing them in the trash when I was done, so the enormous pile was just the ones that had escaped.

I also like to scribble on a piece of paper, with lots of overlapping lines, and then see how many sections I can fill in without having any of the filled-in sections touching another filled-in section. Added challenge: using two different colors of pen, and different colors can touch, but not the same color.

[gigi]

Originally Posted by delphica

Not nervous, but another strange habit is that when I'm on the phone at work, I pick up paperclips and unbend them, and then bend them in an L shape.

Oh yeah, same here, only I bent them back and forth until they break. Then I feel a twinge of guilt for costing the company money.

[delphica]

Originally Posted by gigi

Oh yeah, same here, only I bent them back and forth until they break. Then I feel a twinge of guilt for costing the company money.

Heh, I go through bouts of feeling guilty about it as well, then I try to rationalize it by thinking the paperclips are provided for my USE, and what difference does it make if some people use them to clip paper together, and I use them as a concentration aid while I am doing phone work?

Which is crazy justification, I realize.

[lobstermobster]

I grind my teeth/clench and unclench my jaw pretty much 24/7. The boyfriend says at night it sounds like a squeaky crank. I pull apart the split ends of my hair. Some of you hair pullers sound like you may have trich. you should PM me

[Zerickk]

I constantly rip up paper. Not just pieces of paper. Just anyting paper like. I'm notorious for ripping up the matchbooks. And ciggarette packs. I just shred them into small pieces. And a lot of the time I don' notice it until my dad yells at me. I also chew on the inside of my lips. There are rough parts that i've just torn up. And I used to do this thing in elemetary school where if i was nervous i would blow all the air out of my lungs. All of it, as much as a i could. And if i didn't get it all out right i'd have a hard time breathing. But thank god I grew out of that.

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

There was a period of time as a kid when I'd whinny like a horse. No, really.

It started as a joke. You know that crappy Hercules cartoon circa 1970s, in which Herc was normal until he put on a magic ring, held it high over his head and said "By the power of Greyskull" - no, wait, that was He-Man! Anyway, Herc was a regular dude, who would calmly stop what he was doing, put on his ring with the shiny golden "H" on it, and lightning would strike, there would be trumpets, and then he'd kick ass.

He had a stupid centaur sidekick, whose name, I think was Newton. Whenever Newton got scared, he'd flail his arms like a gay man throwing glitter in a Pride parade, and make a terrified horsey sound: "Yee-yee-yee-yee-yee-yee!"

When I was 9, I could imitate that like no one else. I was awesome! I would do it in mock terror and everyone would laugh and laugh. It was the height of my very brief stint as class clown. Teacher suddenly announces a pop-quiz? "Yee-yee-yee-yee-yee-yee!" Little Suzie says she going to tell on you? "Yee-yee-yee-yee-yee-yee!"

Problem was, the joke got so ingrained that, for a period of time, I started doing it when I was legitimately nervous. I embarrassed myself so bad once though, that I finally stopped.

[Alice The Goon]

What do zombies do when they're nervous, I wonder?

[Ellen Cherry]

Originally Posted by Alice The Goon

What do zombies do when they're nervous, I wonder?

Probably rip pieces of their skin ... I mean paper. PAPER!