first attempt with signs of progress

Well I'm very new at trying to Lucid Dream, for reasons of that I have nightmares that terrify me, but don't have them that often. The other night when I went to sleep I watched television until I was deadly tired, then I layed there with my eyes closed, still, repeating - "Am I awake?" to which I would answer, "Yes", and did that over and over and over until I fell asleep, then I felt my body paralyze but my heart was beating so fast nothing happened I just woke up instantly, as if I fell asleep and woke up all in a few seconds. I know that I didn't get far or anything close to it, but I've never been able to bring on that feeling on demand before. I just convinced myself that there was nothing to be afraid of because I am in control, and tried to tell myself to stay calm, but inevitably....

I'm worried that I might be too scared, but I know that nothing can harm me... not sure how to continue I guess ?

About being afraid. I have never had a LD and I myself just started to learn about Lucid Dreaming. I have always had great fears of loosing the power over of my mind. When I tried my first WILD, not after 4-6 hours, I stopped out of fear. What I do to manage this fear is that before each nights sleep a pull out my piece of paper that I write my dreams on and note down, "It is all in my mind." I do not get nightmares often, hardly ever; however, once I know that everything is simply in my mind it takes away fear. From what I have read fear is the enemy of all LD'ing.