Fiddling at work

As a child I was overflowing with energy, ideas, and words. It drove my parents crazy at times. The energy has slowed over the years, but you can still see the restlessness in me if you look closely. I need to be physically comfortable and have a tendency to wriggle. I also fiddle. A lot. I do it in a way that most people don't notice: with a pencil, a seam on my clothes, a fold in a piece of paper. As I just re-read this paragraph, my left hand slipped off the keyboard and over to a nearby black pen and tried to balance it on its plastic clip.

My desk, with fiddle objects in plain sight.

I have never been one to tolerate long periods of sitting still, unless my attention is riveted on a book, the conversation, or the task that I'm doing, but even then I fiddle. I find it difficult to pay close attention to meetings that I don't have deep involvement in. I have been known to occasionally take cross-stitch to meetings.

On my desk are several things that I use for fiddling. Most are usual desk equipment, but one is a bit more unusual, my twelve-sided fidget toy. I've found it helpful this year during Zoom meetings when my fingers long to be busy and my attention is flagging. I believe it used to belong to one of my boys, who was given it during the "fidget spinner" craze a few years back.

I know I'm not the only one who fiddles. I am experienced at using small objects to help my boys in a quiet situation to settle or distract them from whatever is bothering them (yes, as teenagers). I carry a couple of small things in my handbag for just that purpose and have occasionally used them myself. There is even research out there about fiddling! In the process of writing this blog post I found a Youtube video rating various items people fiddle with in 2020 in the office.

Do you fiddle compulsively? What is your preferred go-to object?