Stimming, the 3-Part Series: Positive Stim
Identifying Positive Stim in your life might feel like it should be easy. Ideally it goes like this: I try something, I like it, my brain likes it, it is good for me, I am contributing positively to my life, and there are no negative consequences on others. That is positive stim!
As easy as this sounds, often people are stymied by the idea of positive stim. “But… what if I don’t know what I like!” Perhaps an analogy can be helpful to quell fears about your search for positive stim. Think about an ice cream store or even the ice cream section of your local grocery store. Ice cream stores are amazing in their diversity, all those unique ways they combine a set number of ingredients. Mark my words, at some point, we will have meat and cheese flavoured ice cream! Pepperoni ice cream anyone?!? In any case, I have often sat there, for long periods of time, wondering what I should have. I want a positive experience, I want it to taste good, and I want it to provide pleasure. There is also a cost to not choosing well. I will be disappointed with that first lick! I will have spent money on something that I don’t like and unfortunately, you can’t simply re-gift ice cream during the next holiday season. So, what are my options? I can sit there for the afternoon and try nothing. I can choose something and hope for the best, accepting that I might be disappointed. Alternatively, I can ask to try a few flavours, picking from past experience of what I liked and what I didn’t like before. Finding your positive stim activities is like choosing ice cream. You know the experience that you are wanting to have in that first bite. You are hopeful that you will find pleasure and that your brain will go “YESSSSS!”. It is just as likely, however, that you will not experience that positive sensation and that you will need to try again. This is especially true if you are trying something new.
Having positive stim in your life is very important. If you already know what type of positive stim works for you, do that! Create time in your schedule to do it and find body doubles to get you there. Body doubles help ensure that you do the activity which can be hard, even if you know that you like doing it!
If you do not know what type of positive stim works for you, or if your usual choices are leaving you feeling somewhat unfulfilled and flat, you need to branch out and try something new! It would be great if someone had put together all the leisure activities, things to do, and options for positive stim in your neighbourhood. Sometimes those lists do exist but often they do not. This may require some research, asking questions, poking around, and connecting with others to see what they do for positive stim. You might be surprised about the answers you receive!
Your challenge is to find positive stim! Remember, this doesn’t mean that you have to be immediately successful in your search. This a journey. Like all good things, there are often twists and turns in the road that moves you towards success.
Positive stim can be protective for neurodivergent individuals. Positive stim keeps you from moving too far into negative stim. Negative stim will be a topic for another day. Go have fun finding positive rewards for both your brain and your life!
For more about positive stim, check out the video on our instagram here!
Check back for the next instalment of our 3-part series about stimming - coming soon!