I didn’t even think about that when I posted this, but I guess it could be a bad habit or coping mechanism. Diving deeper I feel like a coping mechanism is something that helps for a short period of time. Once it becomes habit it’s a bad habit. For example, little kids suck their thumbs as a coping mechanism. If they continued that past a certain age it would definitely be considered a bad habit. When people drink when they’re depressed it could be a coping mechanism, but continuously it would lead to a bad habit. If it helps you in the short term, I don’t see it as a issue. My right eye squinting is technically a coping mechanism to get through blocking and stuttering. But if I continue to do that without any effort to fix it I would view it as a bad habit. Yes it helped me now but I can’t just depend on that. I’m a golfer so here’s a golf analogy. Someone that slices (hits the ball right) know they slice the ball. They can’t just fix it right then and there so they just try aiming way to the left so the right ball flight will get them more into the fairway. If they just keep doing that they’ll never get better and just live with it. Instead they can keep doing that for the short term during a game, but on the range, should practice correcting it. I know it’s almost impossible to correct stuttering but the better I can get at talking with the least amount of “socially awkward” movements and gestures, I feel like that’s the goal I want to strive for. I used to do everything from staying quiet in class, to not ordering exactly what I wanted from the drive thru, to tapping my feet and hands to get through sentences, to turning bright red super long blocks. All of those were coping mechanisms but I don’t want to stay comfortable not speaking my mind or doing things how I want. So this is why I see these as bad habits if they linger.