Tickling was a major weapon amongst kids I played with back when I was in elementary school (along with pinching, but only girls did that). I had the notion that “this would never do!” and “I have to worry about this all the time!” Somehow that got it in my head to try to desensitize myself to tickling.
I’d heard that it was impossible to tickle yourself, and after TRYING it, I took a guess: maybe it was because you already knew where and how you were going to be tickled?
Iteration 1: Quickly tickle myself by randomly flailing my arms at various places on my body. No dice.
Iteration 2: Notice that I’d synchronized my arms in the first iteration. Tried desynch-ing them. Still no good.
Iteration 3: Tried also using a feather in one hand. Nope.
Iteration 4: Closed my eyes in the process. I could feel the ticklish feeling!
Iteration 5: Did all of the above in an extremely dark, closed closet. Worked!
After I figured this out, I repeated the process a few times while gradually slowing down the speed of tickling. I’ve been non-ticklish since then. Caveats: some sensitivity has come back in my feet; less so around my stomach; I do not recall how ticklish I was before this desensitization.
tl;dr—I sat in a dark closet, with a feather in my hand, closed my eyes, and proceeded to flail my arms/fingers randomly at myself
Like RichardKennaway, I can already tickle myself on Iteration 1.
I’m not sure I would normally want to try this method, since my initial goal is not to be tickled as I find it unpleasant. (I can’t sit through a massage either because it tickles.)
In the interest of self-experimentation, I’ll give it a go. Richard, as a control could you stand in a dark closet and lift your shirt for ten minutes? I am at least half kidding.
I wish I had a better suggestion besides, “try going very very slowly at first—maybe just one finger.” I mean, surely you can touch yourself without bursting out laughing?
Story, then tl;dr follows -
Tickling was a major weapon amongst kids I played with back when I was in elementary school (along with pinching, but only girls did that). I had the notion that “this would never do!” and “I have to worry about this all the time!” Somehow that got it in my head to try to desensitize myself to tickling.
I’d heard that it was impossible to tickle yourself, and after TRYING it, I took a guess: maybe it was because you already knew where and how you were going to be tickled?
Iteration 1: Quickly tickle myself by randomly flailing my arms at various places on my body. No dice.
Iteration 2: Notice that I’d synchronized my arms in the first iteration. Tried desynch-ing them. Still no good.
Iteration 3: Tried also using a feather in one hand. Nope.
Iteration 4: Closed my eyes in the process. I could feel the ticklish feeling!
Iteration 5: Did all of the above in an extremely dark, closed closet. Worked!
After I figured this out, I repeated the process a few times while gradually slowing down the speed of tickling. I’ve been non-ticklish since then. Caveats: some sensitivity has come back in my feet; less so around my stomach; I do not recall how ticklish I was before this desensitization.
tl;dr—I sat in a dark closet, with a feather in my hand, closed my eyes, and proceeded to flail my arms/fingers randomly at myself
Like RichardKennaway, I can already tickle myself on Iteration 1. I’m not sure I would normally want to try this method, since my initial goal is not to be tickled as I find it unpleasant. (I can’t sit through a massage either because it tickles.) In the interest of self-experimentation, I’ll give it a go. Richard, as a control could you stand in a dark closet and lift your shirt for ten minutes? I am at least half kidding.
I wish I had a better suggestion besides, “try going very very slowly at first—maybe just one finger.” I mean, surely you can touch yourself without bursting out laughing?