First of all, WILD is nothing to be afraid of. The association of sleep paralysis with WILD is actually a myth that we struggle to dispell here at DreamViews. While our bodies do get paralyzed every night as a precaution so that we don't act out our dreams, that is normal, and most people are unaware of it, and perhaps become aware of it a couple of times in their lives whether they practice WILD or not. Some people have a sleep disorder that causes them to become aware of sleep paralysis while awake, where the timing of the paralysis is wrong, but if you had this disorder, you would know it. WILD will not cause you to get sleep paralysis.

For most of us WILD contains some hypnagogic images which are like hallucinations in the in between state between being awake and asleep. However for most of us those are interesting and not scary. If you are worried, just don't attempt WILD unless you are in a content mood because if you are already in a bad mood and scared then the images may match your mood. If you do not like the experience, you can move and wake yourself up more, since you will not be paralysed during this.

Also there is no need to set an alarm clock to wake up your family. Most of us are capable of through sheer will waking up more at different times in the night. Just go to bed intending to wake up during the night for WBTB. Since the exact timing does not matter, so whenever you do wake up, take a look at a clock, and if you have already slept for a few hours and at least two more hours remain until you need to get up for good, then that's a good time to attempt WILD. I would recommend WILD in addition to attempting DILD/MILD.

What works surprisingly well for me are dream competitions. Keep a look out in this section for one: General Lucid Dreaming - I do not know when the next one will be. I like you have trouble getting to LD, but dream competitions help me get lucid.

A lot of lucid dreaming success is based on expectations and intensions: if we intend to get lucid and expect to succeed that is the most important part I believe. My problem I think is that I am satisfied with having occasional LDs which helps me not to get frustrated with their scarcity, but I fear my motivation is not strong enough yet to get more frequent ones. Could that be your problem as well? Alternatively, there is also the option of trying too hard. Also when you do reality checks, do you seriously question reality, and really consider the very real possibility that you are dreaming right now?

I hope some of this helps you. Best, Joanna