Unexpected lack of control

Usually once I become lucid I have complete control over objects I'm interacting with.
However, this morning, I become lucid inside a car at night (in the dream).
My first thought was to get out of the car as quickly as possible and do everything I could before I wake up.
The car door didn't open, though.
It rattled in place a little, then stopped. So I tried to open it again. It did the same thing. Neither time did I expect the door to be locked, I expected it to open on my first attempt without much thought. On the second attempt, after the rattling of the handle, I was struck by a horrible feeling of dread that something was wrong. Everything went dead silent, all ambient noise ceased. I was hit by the thought that something terrible was going to appear (you know the one) and blacked out/woke up with only a short flash of what the dreamworld was conjuring up to fit my expectations (a cracked white face with empty, bleeding eye-sockets).

Was this some kind of half-lucid nightmare, or what?

To me, it seems like a developing lucid nightmare. At first everything goes smoothly, then little by little, different aspects start affecting you negatively. In your case, a sudden feeling of dread. But generally I think dream control (and anything really) can vary at any time for no reason at all. Or maybe just a reason I don't know. Hehe.

Whenever lucids like this happen to me, I try some other situational things that can explain it. For example, if you found yourself unable to open the door, you can imagine that maybe it is locked, and thus you can look for a key that can open it. Or you can attach another meaning to it – maybe that door is broken, and instead use another door. Another example is if you can't turn on a light, you can try rubbing your hands, and thinking the energy produced will power it.


Anyway, that image you saw once you woke up was just a hallucination, and nothing to worry about :)

Good luck!

I was just talking about these types of dreams with my wife. Driving is so god damn dangerous and scary. We get used to it, and it becomes second nature. I think there is still some part of our brain that always knows how much danger we are in. It is stressful.

As far as dream analysis, where you in the back seat? If so, this is a standard common anxiety dream, experienced by many. If you became lucid while your brain was busy creating an anxiety dream, it would take a shift in your mind state to get a normal LD going. You ended up feeling the anxiety and that cost you the LD. A good thing to do would have been to sit calmly in the car and do a round of stabilizing techniques, before attempting anything. Better luck on the next one.

Nope, I was in the front seat that isn't the driver's seat. The car didn't feel like it was moving, either.
Thanks for the advice.

I've been in a similar situation but trapped in a room, were your thoughts solely focussed on opening the door?

Because I felt trapped, but amanged to get calm when the door of this room I wanted to get out of was locked. Then I rationalised that as I was lucid I didn't need to use the door, I tried to push through a wall and failed twice, it was solid, then eventually I was able to get through.

So yes, I've had some experiences where I've not been in control and when I've been able to overcome the fear then I've gotten past the obstacle, I think the problem is your mind goes off 100 miles an hour and you lose the ability to rationalise.

Sounds to me like a lucid dream that was quickly becoming a nightmare and you lost control of it due to the anxiety of the situation.

Bad experiences are good experiences though because if it happens again, hopefully you can remain calm and try floating through the roof instead!