I had a few family friends over today and the topic of dreaming came up. I naturally brought up my experiences with lucid dreaming and OBE's and explained to them in detail about what each one was. They seemed a bit intrigued and I discussed how I've had fun experiences with lucid dreaming but also really amazing and deeply personal experiences, like when I asked my subconscious to help me figure out some of my hallucinations and so on. I felt really good talking about it but they didn't seem to share the same opinions. One of them said "But it's not real."

I explained that it didn't matter to me and I tried to challenge them on what reality really is and if an experience is any less important because it was carried out in a dream. I got a few responses like "You've got too much time on your hands" and every time I tried to share something that I personally found amazing they made jokes out of it.

I guess it just got to me a bit. I don't have anyone in my waking life who values these experiences like I do and it feels quite isolating. They made out that only people who have no lives would be interested in this, which I found a bit offensive. In may case it is true. I won't give you the whole sob story but I'm unfit to work, have a lot of personal issues and it all honesty there's nothing I really value in my life *cue the worlds smallest violin*

I suppose it just made me feel a bit small and pathetic and it annoyed me that all these amazing things I've experienced through LD's and OBE's are just viewed as pointless by everyone else.

Anyway rant over. Just felt the need to get that off my chest. Has anyone found that lucid dreaming often isolates them from the people around or do you have a lot of people in waking life who also have lucid dreams?