[NT] Pacing

[VagrantFarce]

Anyone else find themselves pacing up and down while thinking? I do it almost instinctively when an interesting idea pops in my head, and my housemates always find it a bit unnerving when I'm pacing up and down on the second floor looking at the carpet. Once I was living in a tiny dorm when at University, and I found it particularly frustrating since I couldn't pace up and down quite as easily as I could at home! It just helps me concentrate for some reason, and I always find it comforting. I think it's the same thing as taking a walk when there's no one around, like early in the morning or late at night. I can just think without anyone potentially interfering.

Confirm to me that I'm not wierd please. Aimless thinking is an absolute good, yes?

 

[Valuable_Money]

I too do this

 

[Alwar]

I do as well.

 

[Jaguar]

Yes.

 

[Helios]

When I am thinking particularly hard, or, bizarrely, when I am having conceited thoughts of profound academic success, I pace.

 

[ceecee]

Yes. I can't sit for more than a few seconds and I'm back to pacing.

 

[Matthew_Z]

I've always been a pacer. Keeps the blood flowing to the brain, I suppose. If I'm thinking, I'm pacing, save for maybe a momentary break.

 

[garbage]

Not usually when thinking, but I do it when lecturing or talking on the phone.

 

[thisGuy]

ya...moving helps

somtimes i put on headphones when doing something redundant and repetetive...i think that and pacing are related

doing something that requires a little thought engages your secondary (primary) functions while the primary (secondary) function can go nuts unhindered...or something like that

 

[Verfremdungseffekt]

Yeah, it helps to get the circulation going. Maybe to burn off or divert some of the extra energy, to allow things to more organically shake into place. A walk around the block is often better -- though it can be annoying when everything clicks into place half a block away, and I have to either jog back, trying not to forget anything (at the last moment I will fail due to the concentration involved in unlocking the door or removing my shoes, and be discouraged), or whip out a pad and pen and scribble like a madman.

 

[Shimmy]

Yeah I pace a lot. Even when I'm not thinking but just making conversation with friends. Instead of sitting down next to them I usually get up and walk around the room.

 

[Matthew_Z]

Yeah I pace a lot. Even when I'm not thinking but just making conversation with friends. Instead of sitting down next to them I usually get up and walk around the room.

And I was starting to think there was no correlation between that habit and MBTI type.

 

[Verfremdungseffekt]

That's true for conversation also, yes -- especially on the phone, where I'm less certain and therefore more prone to overthink. I imagine it helps to temper Ti and shift focus to the Ne.

Generally anything I can do to damp down this Ti is to my benefit.

 

[Shimmy]

Lol yeah, phone conversations are the worst. I usually start sitting down in my chair, get up and pace around, sit back down again, get back up again etc..

 

[Verfremdungseffekt]

Sometimes when I'm intent on explaining something I start moving around randomly, wildly gesticulating, dancing -- in a flurry, even.

I think what it most actively does is it burns off the irritation at my inability to express myself. Which is useful, as that frustration tends to be exactly the material gumming up the bottle neck.

 

[songofcalamity]

I do that all the time.

 

[Fluffywolf]

I think waaaaay way faster than I am able to talk. So yes. If I don't pace myself, I crash and burn.

 

[FDG]

Never, but I exercise a lot, so I rarely have physical energy to "waste". My best thinking is done while laying on the sofa or bed.

 

[FigerPuppet]

I usually just sit and rock with one of my legs, fast.

 

[thisGuy]

I usually just sit and rock with one of my legs, fast.

shit! that was me in high school and first year of uni...before i started getting the intellectual stimulation that has become a craving