What's your nervous tendency?

Nail biter here!

I have an awful habit of chewing on my bottom lip. Or playing with my bottom lip. Licking my fingertip and rubbing it back and forth against it.

It gets weird looks before I realize that i’m doing it.

It’s gross, but…I pick at dead skin. Yuck.

Nail biters unite!

I play with my hair. Or, if I’m in an awkward social situation, I generally boss people. I’m not proud of it.

@adrianscott , It looks like you are biting your nails in your profile pic! ha ha!!

I have like 30+
I am one big nervous tendency.

Just a few: the swimmer/surfer nose grab, knuckle popping, toe tapping, weird musical sounds, weird faces, nervous laughter, throat clearing, looking around awkwardly, itching my facial hair, stroking my imaginary beard, erratic toe movements, dancing around like I’m about to wet my pants, awkward humor, head bobbing, repetition of stupid phrases like soo, anyhoooo…., teeth chattering, tongue biting…....

@scamp actually that’s me drinking down a pitcher of beer… one of the few moments I’m not gnawing on my fingers…

I need glasses!! I’m doing pretty good with my nails lately. They have grown out, so I guess I haven’t been nervous for a while.

Mostly a biter. Cuticles, nails, lips, hair, pens/pencils…..
Also general restlessness…..cornered rabbit syndrome, tapping feet…...I could go on and on…
I should add, I usually try to hide it, so appearing calm and distant is probably another.

I’m trying to quit with the nails. I’ve been failing so far, though. I just have to keep painting them to keep them out of my mouth.

That’s what I do too. then I pick at the polish instead of biting them!!

Exactly! However, then my polish always looks ratty and gross. It’s usually multicolor because I redot it with whatever I have around.

@delirium I’ve tried so many different methods to stop biting, but when it comes down to it, I think it’s just part of my psychological makeup. Plus it doesn’t help that my fingers tend to follow me around everywhere I go so they’re easy targets.

I came across (let me rephrase that, my girlfriend picked me up) some anti-biting clear polish for my nails, but I was able to bite through that too. Not cool.

I have some of the gross tasting stuff but it seemed to get everywhere, and I ended up ingesting a lot of it, which was worrying me.

I agree about the easy target thing. I’m a girl so I can get away with the Victorian style lace gloves to protect my fingers but ultimately I really just wish I could leave them at home. (the fingers, not the gloves.)

I giggle when I’m nervous – it can be embarrassing.

I chew on kitchen tile when I get nervous

I bite my fingers- not just the nails, pretty much everything around my fingers. I also chew on me cheek and lips, both of these even when I’m not nervous. Also, if i decide to not shave for a day I’m constantly rubbing the scruffiness =P

I tend to clean. Like a housewife in denial.

Creating something helps as well. Whether it be a song, a picture, etc.

If none of that helps I just hit a sleeping homeless person in the head with a hammer.

like many above: nail biter

Clear my throat. It got so bad in HS my mom took me to an ENT… Didn’t help.

chain smoking

I pop my wrists.
Sometimes, when I’m really nervous, I do it too much and they dislocate.
It’s really gross.
and REALLY painful.
I’ve gotten it checked out before, I have to wear braces at nighttime now. :x

I go to sleep.

I move my leg a lot, but I do this when I’m bored too.
I play with the top part of my ear.
I bite the inside of my lower lip.
and
I wiggle my toes.

YES PEEDUB IMAGINARY BEARD! Greatest thing to do especially in really serious situations.

I also partake in…..
cracking various joints(i always get weird looks from back and neck) , looking around awkwardly,chewing on pens/straws/other random objects/inside of my bottom lip(didnt do this until i randomly started recently)/twist a piece of my hair around my finger(only seems to happen when im reading)

weird thing is i dont consider myself nervous and/or stressed.

haha, you almost look like your doing it in the avatar!

that was actually the idea lol

Gotcha

I remember the parts of songs that aren’t the lyric – the filler syllables. When I’m nervous I start humming those parts under my breath. “Wella wella wella well”/ “wo wo wo”/“etc.
ALSO I start vocalizing sounds I hear around me. Tink tink tink. VVVVVVV!
“Okay!” “Brrrrrrrr!” I got it from playing with the new baby in our family. No one notices, though, as far as I can tell. It’s just underlying backup vocals.

Lot’s of oral fixations here!

Scamp, you’re right!
Here’s something from a book called DYING WELL (in a section about lung disease):

”.. smoking is a self-nurturing behavior. The sucking and immediate oral gratification develop as a way of taking care of themselves. It feels good in the short term, or at least it did when the habit began. Often people who go on to have severe chronic pulmonary disease…have a history of being emotionally neglected as young children. Smoking constitutes a calming and reassuring form of self-care… a form of self-mothering. (They) tend to remain emotionally needy, unable to feel affection from others because of a vague sense of unworthiness.”
Good lord!!! do you think all of us mouth-centric nervousness-calmers are in this category? Embarrassing!

I’m not sure, but it’s an intersting thing to think about.

I pull out my eyebrows. Yes, I am a freak.

If im seated then bouncing my leg, stroking my elbow or being tappy with my fingers.