Tried to wake myself up even though I wasn't lucid?

Sometimes in dreams, specifically nightmares, I often close my eyes as if I know it's a dream and just "ride it out". Last night I had a nightmare so I closed my eyes, covered my ears, and fell backwards because that technique usually wakes me up. Unfortunately it didn't work that time, but that's not the point of this post.

My question is, why do you think I tried to wake myself up if I wasn't lucid?

It's happened before, as I've already mentioned, but now I'm curious as to why this happens sometimes.

Well...If in fact you were TRYING to wake up...You were lucid...
If you were trying to wake up it is because you thought you were in a dream.

I'm almost 100% positive I wasn't lucid, though. This has occurred before I even heard of lucidity. Unless I'm lucid in the back of my subconscious, where I couldn't consciously tell if I'm dreaming or not.

No need to know about lucid dreams to have lucid dreams...
You surely had nightmares as a child...
And you wanted to wake up.