An undesired side-effect from LD

[AnotherDreamer]

I noticed this happening awhile ago, when I used to RC a lot. I would constantly be questioning whether I was dreaming or not. This led to me having a difficult time telling the difference between dreaming and being awake. Sure, we have more powers and none of the consequences during dreams but they both feel the same. It started to feel like I was losing my mind, creating dream visuals during waking life and I always had the 'dream feeling' that I get when I'm in a lucid dream and I know it's not real. This state of mind went away when I stopped RCing, but recently I've been focusing on reclaiming my old habits again so that I can be semi-aware doing a lot of my dreams. Does anybody else deal with this stuff, or experience the surreality of waking life? If so, how do you deal with it and maintain your sanity?

[Baron Samedi]

When you become more advanced at your LD skills like you are, yes, this seems to happen to a lot of us. I have experienced some involuntary hallucinations (illusions, technically), not recognizing everyday objects for a second, or forgetting I have a physical body that needs to urinate because of time dilation. When you wake up after having a ten-year dream in one night, it takes awhile to get re-oriented to this world. I don't really ask myself if I'm dreaming or not anymore, because I think maybe all planes are different types of dreams (physical/astral/dream planes) and this waking life is another serial dream where the rules are different compared to the other planes. So, now I ask myself, "Which world am I in?" I call this phenomenon you experience, The Bleed Over.

[Baron Samedi]

To increase sanity, ground thyself. Walk with thy barefeet upon the earth, if possible. If not, touch trees and bushes that have their roots in the ground. Watch sunrises and sunsets. Solar gaze. Stare at the Moon and the stars. Go out into Nature and take deep breaths of the forest/jungle/desert air. Go to a beach/river/lake or mountain. Eat roots like carrots, taro, potatoes, ginger, and yams.

[FreddyKrueger]

When you become more advanced at your LD skills like you are, yes, this seems to happen to a lot of us. I have experienced some involuntary hallucinations (illusions, technically), not recognizing everyday objects for a second, or forgetting I have a physical body that needs to urinate because of time dilation. When you wake up after having a ten-year dream in one night, it takes awhile to get re-oriented to this world. Ten-year dream? Are you saying that in your dreams that time dilation is so intense that it feels like you actually dream for ten years literally?

[AnotherDreamer]

When you become more advanced at your LD skills like you are, yes, this seems to happen to a lot of us. I have experienced some involuntary hallucinations (illusions, technically), not recognizing everyday objects for a second, or forgetting I have a physical body that needs to urinate because of time dilation. When you wake up after having a ten-year dream in one night, it takes awhile to get re-oriented to this world. I don't really ask myself if I'm dreaming or not anymore, because I think maybe all planes are different types of dreams (physical/astral/dream planes) and this waking life is another serial dream where the rules are different compared to the other planes. So, now I ask myself, "Which world am I in?" I call this phenomenon you experience, The Bleed Over. To increase sanity, ground thyself. Walk with thy barefeet upon the earth, if possible. If not, touch trees and bushes that have their roots in the ground. Watch sunrises and sunsets. Solar gaze. Stare at the Moon and the stars. Go out into Nature and take deep breaths of the forest/jungle/desert air. Go to a beach/river/lake or mountain. Eat roots like carrots, taro, potatoes, ginger, and yams. Thank you for the wonderful answer . Already made me feel a little better. Especially where you said, "I think maybe all planes are different types of dreams (physical/astral/dream planes) and this waking life is another serial dream where the rules are different compared to the other planes. So, now I ask myself, "Which world am I in?"" What a great way to look at it this experience. Hopefully I'll get to go on a hike in the mountains this weekend and eat a lot of earthy foods to ground myself better to this dream as well.

[FryingMan]

After doing ADA/RC for about a month I had a "becoming lucid" moment in waking life. I also find myself stopping in wonder in waking life, looking around, and saying "OMG this is all a dream!" But I feel very grounded in waking life so far, so I don't have any such concerns of mixing the two worlds. In fact I *wish* I had all your lucid dream frequency, I'm still beginning and never have enough of lucid dreams, so I'm hoping for more dream-like awareness!