This weird thing my brain does - is this stimming ?

[byb]

So ever since I was 15, I've noticed that my brain counts stuff.

It's hard to explain, I don't do it consciously.

I count surfaces with my fingers from afar.

So say right now I'm looking at my walk and I see wall / curtain /wall / curtain / wall. My brain will count the different surfaces automatically. It's not conscious. I think my fingers slightly move when I do it. It's always 5. So starts with wall little finger/ curtain ring finger/ wall middle finger/ curtain second finger and wall again / thumb.

My brain is basically always trying to scan the room or whatever it is for surfaces which fit into that order of my fingers - so 5. It's super random and I hadn't thought about it consciously in ages, but I do it a lot.

Now I'm looking at the wall opposite and counted door/ wall / TV / wall/ door.

Does anyone else do something similar ?

I do lots of these and always have done since very young and now in my 50’s. I can still remember several of our car number plates and telephone numbers from when I was under 10, where I use to recite them continuously in my head.

I’ve never thought of it as ocd as I’ve never felt any stress or anxiety or need to do it. It’s just always been automatic and part of my life for as long as I can remember.

I noticed when I was chopping carrots yesterday I was counting them for no reason. I do have ocd though and used to have to do things a certain number of times so it's probably from that.

Also, particularly when i'm feeling nervous or antsy like when in a drs waiting room, I look at words on signs or posters and try and read them backwards to see if they spell anything?!

I count everything all the time. As far as I'm aware, I'm not ND, but who knows?

I read number plates, write words backwards in my my mind, count all the time, it's exhausting

I'm autistic and I do it with fours. But not with the words like one two three four but with spatial patterns. I do it all the time and it is exhausting.

I also used to, but not quite as much any more, routinely figure out what a word was backwards then mentally say it forwards and backwards together, then think 'not a palindrome'. So I'd think table, elbat, tablelbat, not a word. I did that A LOT.

I hear you...its exhausting to count things so much of the time. I just want to get myself a bowl of grapes, not count how many I've put into my bowl

It's a form of ocd

I think it's a little OCD.

Oh dear. This thread has made me realise I am quite possibly OCD. I think because I'm very slapdasg and not particularly mad on hygiene I always excluded myself from that label.

Yes, I do this, particularly when stressed or anxious about something.
I do it in threes, such on the motorway, especially to the airport, I group the lampposts or road signs into threes in my mind.
It’s something I’ve done since I was a child, don’t know why it started but I know I can’t stop it.

This thread is fascinating. I do not count at all. In fact, I get so bored doing any kind of counting that I have to really focus if it is required for some reason.

Goodness, I do the adding car number plates thing until they are a single digit, done this as long as I can remember, had no idea other people did this, quite comforting really.

Well I do similar.

I like phrases that have 21 characters in them. If I hear something on the tv/in person, and it isn't 21 characters, I'll rearrange it in my head until it is.
It's tiring 🤣 but I've done it for years!

it's OCD. What would
happen if you didn't count? Would you worry something might
happen?

I'm the same, I assume it's because I'm numbers minded.sometimes I try to stop but usually I let it go as it doesn't affect my life in any way

I dont think that quite the same as what the OP is describing though

I do it too! I press my thumb and index finger together when I’m in the car and are passing a pavement, as soon as it turns to grass I open my fingers then close them again when back to pavement.

I also read every number plate I pass like pp. I can almost recite everyone on the school rubs number plate (although I’d never tell anyone that in real life, they’d think I was a stalker!)

I have to count to 10 when I fell a glass or bottle up. I have to vary the speed as it must just be full on exactly 10

Also rinse the shampoo running my hands down my hair has to be done 7 times.

As a kid I would count postboxes and telephone boxes on routes we went. I could navigate buy them. Then telephone boxes disappeared and I can't fine my way to places by memory from when I was a kid anymore.
I also remember number plates, patterns and phone numbers very easily.

I do something along these lines. It can be annoying if you are sitting on a bus looking at passing signs and you come across a long word so you can’t finish.

Lurkylurks I count all the letters in a sentence someone has just said to me or on the TV. Then I'll block the letters into all the factors of that sentences number. So if the sentence was 24 letters long I'll group the letters to 6 at a time, then 4, then 2 and 12, 3 and 8 etc! I just find it really satisfying, then if it's an odd number I'll often count the full stop! No diagnosis but have other ASD traits.

When listening to somebody speak I pick a sentence that they have just said, then in my head I count all the letters up in that sentence and see if it divides by 3. Done it as long as I can remember and I don’t know why.

I also do it to myself, if I say a word or sentence out loud I do the divide by 3 thing. It’s a subconscious thing my brain does all day long. It means I am extremely good at immediately knowing how many letters are in a word 😂

eg I just shouted to DS1 ‘get in the bath’ and knew that the letters added up to 12 and divided by 3 and was satisfied.

@onlythebrave3 and @Tisfortired I don't know if you randomly used the examples of 12 and 24 but I really like those numbers because they can cascade down in threes and fours. (I just mean they divide by threes and fours but that's how I visualise it.) Because 3 and 4 have such a different "feel" I like numbers that can contain both. I also experience numbers as having different colours, emotions, degrees of warmth and coolness🙈I don't want to derail the thread into synaesthesia...but please tell me I'm not alone.

I do this. Even though it takes a while and I question the answer because I'm shit at maths (which I think is probably an internalised belief in itself, a hangover from school).

The older I get, the more I recognise patterns of behaviour that I think point towards some kind of ND: extremes of extroversion and introversion, chaotic thought patterns, poor time management and even worse time-keeping (even though I think of myself as organised and able to multi-task, and held down a highly responsible, director-level job for many years), impulsive risk-taking, poor boundaries, tendency to 'blurt out' stuff I'm thinking, avoidance and inability to 'stick' at anything, even things I really want to do in my life ...

It doesn't surprise me that DS has severe ADHD, even though initially I thought it came entirely from DH's side of the family. And my sister has 3 out of 4 kids with ASD of varying severity.

I dunno - the more I get to know and understand about people, the more I wonder where in the world this particular individual is who sets the gold standard for 'normal'.

I have a number 7 thing going on. If I’m waiting for someone/something…. Say I’m picking my son up from a friends house I’ll look away from the house, count to 7 and look back at the house on 7 (hoping to
see him on 7). I do the same waiting for appointments hoping they’ll call my name on 7!