Problem with waking up too soon

I've pursuing LDs for a while now. I also pursued it a bit a few years ago, with a long break between then and now. Both then and now I get to a point where I will often become aware that I'm dreaming in my dreams. But then I wake up...

It has become a regular thing for me, I become lucid, then right after the dream fades away and I wake up. I would say that like 95% of all my lucid dreams end like this. I'm not sure if this is because I become lucid because of the dream fading away, or if I wake up because of me becoming lucid. Maybe my subconscious has become accustomed to me waking up after becoming lucid, just to toss out a thought... I don't think excitement is a big problem here, though. I often try to focus on my surroundings and feel them when I'm about to wake up, but it never helps.

So what I was wondering, was if anyone has any helpful tips or advice on how I can get past this barrier (and please don't suggest dream spinning, it has never helped for me).

Okay just a few things/thoughts/suggestions:
I know you said don't suggest dream spinning but have you tried other dream stablising techniques (looking at hands etc. rubbing hands?
Also, do you realise that your dream is fading or do you just wake up?
Another thing, have you read the thread about linking lucids/dream chaining? Its called DEILD I think. The basic idea is that you keep still with your eyes closed as soon as your lucid finishes and soon enough you will be back in another dream.
And finally, how many lucids have you had? Maybe your body will get used to the experience of getting lucid and the excitement will wear off allowing you to stay asleep.
Good luck,
Ellie
(feel free to PM me if needed :))

I have this problem sometimes. The thing for me is that when I think I am waking up I start to get upset about it and the more upset I get the more I wake up. There was this one time that I was about to wake up because I was trying to do something that was too advanced for me. Like summoning a dream character. Instead of thinking about waking up I focused on a passing car and drew in all the detail I could. I became so focus on the car that I forgot that I was about to wake up and the dream continued for quite sometime.

Thank you for your advices. I again had one of those too short lucid moments today, but this time I remembered to rub my hands together to stabilize the dream. In stead of waking up I ended up in a really really weird sleep paralysis...

Read more about it here.

Okay, this morning I tried MILD again. I was able to have several lucid moments, but I always woke up too soon. I tried to rub my hands several times and also tried to look at the floor one time, but it didn't help. I also had a couple of DEILDS, but they didn't help much as I just ended waking up again after yet another lucid moment...

This is really frustrating. If anyone has any advice to help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

Just keep at it, if you've got the willpower. It took me six years of hard work to stop waking up as soon as I got lucid, but eventually I did.