Body rocking

[Pauledh]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone could help me figure out something... Up until about 4 years ago I would body-rock. Im now 34, from the age of I realy dont know when... since my memory started at the age of say 2 i would body rock. I'd lie on the floor and rock for between a few minutes up to 6 hours or more. I'd rock on the floor and day dream and it seems that the rocking motion would help me day dream and I'd end up in almost in a trance. It completly messed up my education... instead of studying I'd body rock and dream whenever possible.... I mean I was totaly addicted to it, it may seam strange but it got worse from childhood. Im my teens and twenties i spent most of my spare time doing this, once I got to the age to start listening to music I'd body rock with music playing, with the different type of music depending one what i wanded to dream about or vice versa. It could be for the whole weekend and I've lost so much my life doing this.... You would'nt believe. I don't believe I'm autistic... i dont seem to show any other signs... I have a good career now and live a happy life but I'd like to understand what happened to me for all those years.

I'm not entirely sure this is the right forum, maybe it should be mental health but if anyone could help me understand I would much appreciatre your thoughts! If not i will try the other forums. Thanks for your time

[cms2233]

I totally understand and agree with you about your fantasizes vs your reality. I too dreamed of greatness and my life is so normal now. In fact I went through a stage of depression and wonder now if it is linked to this. In my fantasies I was famous, well liked and in reality I do not have that many friends and settled for an average career. My life is so plain Jane compared to all the hopes and dreams I once had with my body rocking.

[cms2233]

I would go through stages with the different types of music I body rocked to, but I do remember going through the techno stage because of the beats in early 2000s. A lot of times I would be listening to lyrics though and fantasizing through the lyrics like if it was a song about breaking up with a boyfriend and getting back at him and I had recently experienced that I would fantasize about it.

[cms2233]

Hi!

     I am so amazed of how many of us are out there and this post is still active after 4 years! I too am a body rocker and have also done this my whole life. I am currently 29 years old female.  I first started out in rocking chairs and body rocking in the car as a child. As I got older and got into music it turned into body rocking on the edge of my bed to music. As I got older I got embarrassed by this due to other people noticing/commenting and I did my best to confine it to my room. (I remember having the urge so many times in the car, but trying my best to control it, so the body rocking in the car turned into a slight head nodding, so it wouldn't be as obvious.
    When I would body rock I would also go into a trans like state and day dream which also effected my schooling. In class I remember zoning out and day dreaming, it's sad because I have a really good memory I probably should of done a lot better because of that, but I think due to my zoning out I did not hear what was being taught. Also when it came time to study instead I would body rock and listen to music, there was no way I could study I just had this urge to body rock dream. At home I couldn't wait to go upstairs to my room and turn on music and body rock and day dream. I grew up in the 90s when girlbands were being discovered and I would dream about starting a band and becoming famous. I had all these wild fantasies about being famous and going places and meeting people and having this really cool life. When I got into college it got worse. I was totally alone (had my own apartment) and would spend hours just listening to music and body rocking and wasting the day away. Surprisingly I made better grades in college.
   After college it was hard to get a job and I moved around a lot and body rocked the days away, until finally I moved back to my home town and pursued teaching and quickly got a job. After that I met my husband and when I met him we were together so much (and I would of not dared to it in front of him!) that it kind of fizzled out. I was so busy with my job and being with my husband that I did not have time for it anymore. When my son was born there really wasn't any time. The last times I remember doing it was during the summer when my husband was not home and I had off and my son would take naps, then I would listen to music and body rock, but the daydreaming was not as intense. For my life had change and all the hopes and dreams I once had are long gone. Don't get me wrong I love my husband and children and life, but it is so strange how I had this thrust for fame and fortune and how it's all gone with the wind now.
   We now have a daughter and my son no longer naps and my husband works from home a lot and with all of that combined my body rocking days are over, but every once in a while I will be alone in the car and have the urge.
   Thankfully I have not seen any signs in my children except my son does hand flap when excited (got him tested and no sign of Autism).
    My childhood was not the best. My mom divorced my father when I was only 3 and we moved around a lot. She married and divorced 3 times and was very self absorbed (narcissistic) She would spend most of her days in her room talking on the phone, or reading. While I would be upstairs by myself. I am an only child as well. I am wondering like many of you if this could of played a part in this? I also am noticing we might have signs of ADD? Just without the hyperactivity part? My husband always jokes that Me and my children Always have to be going somewhere or doing something and he says we are ADD. Mostly as a joke, but maybe it is true thinking back to my rocking days?

[Hammers6]

Hi,

My name is Mark and I'm 44, and like most of you I have body rocked since I could move.  My mother tells me I broke 6-8 cots as a baby, beds and sofas.  When I read your posts it appears that I do everything that most of you do.  As a child I bounced, head banged, rocked side to side and backwards and forwards and whilst standing.  I thought I was the only one in the world who did this, I still rock even now and given the chance I would rock from morning until night.  I believe that this has affected my life in so many ways.  I have a short attention span and feel that it has taken over my  life.  I see some of your posts and see how some of you have stopped and how some of you have overcome it and I admire you and wish I could do the same.  There is so much more I could say about my life but wouldn't want to bore you.  Its a shame that there isn't a group for us all to share what we go through

[jujube275]

I am also a body rocker. I started as soon as I was old enough to sit up. I am 43 now. I don't do it so much anymore. My family made me ashamed of it as a child. I able to stop, but I am very stressed and unhappy. I have heard that a lack of vitamins and high cortisol levels and cause it. I took Prozag for awhile and it really helped, I can't take it anymore because I have had breast cancer. Prozag interferes with my medicine. I have celiac disease too. I feel that with all of these problems I have a right to rock if it makes me happy.

[RocketMan10_5]

It's so good to hear that many, many others have the body rocking "affliction."  I certainly spent a major portion of my childhood rocking, first the bed - at all hours of the day or night. I broke many springs and got in trouble often. I rocked on the floor and yes always to music. It was a very satisfying thing to do. When we got a swing set, I spent hours and hours swinging by myself - lost in thought. I also broke several Lazy-Boy/rocking chairs and got in trouble for that, too. IT GAVE ME SUCH A EUPHORIC FEELING, I COULD NOT STOP.I dreamed of greatness and being a sports hero, movie actor, or simply a popular guy loved by all. I guess visualization - which is really what this is - is overrated, because very focused as I was, it never translated to on-the-field performance. In fact, I was an extremely shy kid and very insecure adult with a great deal of social anxiety. This has really affected my life and career. I know I can do things, just not in front of people. My three sisters always made fun of me and in college, people would laugh at me sitting by myself and rocking in a chair listening to music. I mean rocking hard, too. Crazy stuff. I don't want to say I ruined my life, wasted it, by spending so much time rocking, I guess I just preferred it to most other things and enjoyed every second of it. There was no mental illness when I was a kid, so the thought of psychiatric help or medication was out of the question.