Reality checks and sleep paralysis

Hi guys i recently started practicing LD (as in the past three days lol) and i had my first sort of kind of LD last night. I woke up downstairs in the back room of my house and i walked into my living room and had a conversation with my dad (i was not lucid at the time). Than my mom walks in from work or something and she goes into the kitchen. I then for some reason that i don't know of look at my hands and notice that i have seven fingers on each hand and that my thumbs were on the wrong sides. I say to my self, "Oh my god im dreaming...". I look at my mom who was putting her stuff on the countertop and say, "I am dreaming at this very moment!". From there i think i got a little too excited then slipped out of lucidity and pictured myself at a mall working or something (i was not in control of my dreaming atm). Last night is only the third time i was consistent with my dream journaling. Is it unusual that i started LD in only three days and that i haven't even realized my dream signs yet but i was doing reality checks??? I have been doing them randomly throughout the day just hoping that i would subconsciously do them in my dreams. And tbh, I am terrified of sleep paralysis and i'm praying that it doesnt happen for a while lol. I saw some videos on it and im terrified that i wont be able to breathe or move of course and im going to hallucinate something or somebody bad. Does anybody know any good tips to stay calm or not become paralyzed??? :shadewink: Thanks.

Sleep paralysis is only scary if you let it be. Don't let those stupid videos fool you. I was scared of it when I was 7 and had a crazy nightmarish imagination. Whenever I feel the hallucinations, (what you are referring to as SP) I actually find it quiet cool! It's a pretty neat experience, don't be scared at all, trust me.

Hey there! Welcome to Dream Views and congrats on your first lucid!

Oh, not unusual at all! Everyone is different when learning how to lucid dream. Great job on getting it in three days. :D You're not going to learn your dream signs right off the bat, and even if you do, they can change. Like how mine have changed from family outings to natural disasters.

About the sleep paralysis... not sure how to actually prevent it. There are lots of threads on the subject though. I'm sure you can find the answer there!

Thanks guys. Still a bit scared of SP but less now lol.