Really want to lucid dream, but too scared.

Alright, I'll get straight to the point, here are my concerns.


1 I'll prefer it to real life


Not that my life is bad or anything (except from an anxiety disorder, but it's slowly going away as I'm getting treatment), but I just feel like a world that seems completely real and that you can do anything in would seem better than real life.


2 I'd become confused between real life and the dream


This worry is triggered by the whole Tucson Shooter thing a few years ago. Apparently he said he was lucid dreaming during the attack. Anyway, I'm worried that I'll develop psychosis or that I'll get confused and end up doing something stupid on the real world.

3 I'll sacrifice waking time to lucid dream, to an unhealthy degree.
Basically, an addiction.


4 I'll become disinterested with life and become depressed.
I mean, I have a huge anxiety about becoming depressed anyway (my therapist has said I am categorically, 100% not depressed, and that it's just anxiety about losing control/becoming ill) and so this fear is holding me back.


5 it will aggravate my anxiety.


I mean, I know better than anyone else what disturbs me, and so a lucid nightmare would be awful, especially with anxiety.


Thanks in advance! :)

Disclaimer: for any sort of condition you should consult a professional.

That said I'll offer my view anyway:

1. A lot of people already prefer daydreaming to real life, but preferring one or the other is a whole different issue.

2. LDs are not "completely real", you can distinguish them from when you are awake the same way you know you are awake after you wake up from a dream, the dream was a dream and awake is awake. If somebody cannot tell the difference they already have serious problems unrelated to dreaming.

3. Not possible (unfortunately, haha) you can't force yourself to sleep and most of the fun dreaming happens in the last few hours of sleep, so you only have about a 4 hour window to LD. Personally even if I push 10 hours of sleep all I get is a headache, not extra dreams or LDs.

4. Again, life problems are its own set of issues, LDing might even help with depression since it gets you to be active in something.

5. Getting anxious in an LD will just wake you up from it. As far as aggravating goes, learning to LD involves practising to control your mind, without some degree of control your LDs will be quite short, one of the most important factors in LD stability is being able to stay calm. That is why a lot of the people that are good at LDing also recommend learning to meditate and meditation will definitely help with anxiety, maybe even cure it completely.


Hope that helps somewhat.

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2. LDs are not "completely real", you can distinguish them from when you are awake the same way you know you are awake after you wake up from a dream, the dream was a dream and awake is awake. If somebody cannot tell the difference they already have serious problems unrelated to dreaming.

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I think that upon waking and in retrospect, LDs may seem less real, but that is a different issue from how they feel in the moment. I think while we are "awake" it is easy to maintain that dreams seem "less real," but that is only because we spend more time in the waking environment, and therefore have more times to solidify what I think is primarily a delusion. If they really were less real, would we not all lucid dream much more often than we do? As in, at least half of our dreams would be lucid, if this differentiation were so easily made? We fail to differentiate them on a nightly basis.

Also, I am sure you have had an LD that seemed so solid, so life-like, that there was really no way to differentiate the two (other than that you could fly in one and not the other). Some dreams, it is true, are less-than-lifelike, but I would say they do not comprise the majority of my experiences.

But OP, to agree with Memm, I really would not be worried about not being able to differentiate between the two and this somehow negatively affecting your life. The most probable thing that will happen is that you will err on the side of non-lucidity: meaning in the night time you will feel you are awake, and in the daytime you will feel you are awake. I have never had a (brace yourself, Sageous) successful (as in, I was able to accomplish the thing I set out to do--press my finger through my palm, breath through closed nostrils, whatever) reality check in the waking state. I'm not sure what would produce such an occurrence: maybe some powerful hallucinogen or deliriant (which hopefully you are not using).

And OP, you can always choose to be careful in your LDs at first (not jumping from your fifth-story balcony, for instance) until you feel more comfortable. But there is really nothing to worry about.

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Originally Posted by ThreeCat

I think that upon waking and in retrospect, LDs may seem less real, but that is a different issue from how they feel in the moment. I think while we are "awake" it is easy to maintain that dreams seem "less real," but that is only because we spend more time in the waking environment, and therefore have more times to solidify what I think is primarily a delusion. If they really were less real, would we not all lucid dream much more often than we do? As in, at least half of our dreams would be lucid, if this differentiation were so easily made? We fail to differentiate them on a nightly basis.

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I definitely know what you mean about them being "real" while in the actual LD, but even so they are still different from reality, the brain can't reproduce the waking life 100%. The most basic examples would be how nothing you read makes any sense and nothing stays put if you look away for too long.

If all we knew was dreaming and we never experienced waking life then yes dreaming would be reality, but since we can compare the two you can definitely tell that real reality (take the red pill Neo) is much more detailed than dream reality.

Also personally no matter how realistic the environment in an LD is, it still feels different, like a sort of slight floating feeling / incorporeal, which is why I rarely bother to do reality checks anymore, once I'm aware enough to wonder if I'm in a dream or not I already immediately know the answer because it feels like a dream.

Unless you do drugs and alcohol a lot in real life, then I suppose it's better to nose plug just in case, are you floating because of your hangover or is it a dream? :tongue:

Hi there, and welcome to DV!

1) It does not matter if you prefer it to waking life. You can have great fun while sleeping, but you will wake up, and interact with the real world just the same.

2)I can not picture this happening. We learn to "Reality Check" or RC as part of the process. There are clear distinctions between Dream and wake. While in a dream it may be hard to tell you are dreaming, in waking it is easy to tell you are not dreaming.

3)Perhaps you may spend an extra couple hours in bed on your days off, but that is no big deal.

4) The only way to master LDing is through increasing your awareness while awake. I think most practiced LDers are more involved with waking life than before they got in to lucid dreaming.

5) exactly what Memm said.

LDs are definitely a good thing for you to do, learn to live in the here and now of the present moment and your anxiety will dissolve away like the illusion it is.

Every single day after I've had a lucid dream it turned out to be a good day. I think its the fact that the same petty crap at work that may get to me on other days doesn't get to me the day after lucid dreaming. I also seem less anxious i would say as well. I never wish I was still dreaming and life is too boring and become depressed, I think that I cant wait to become lucid again. So take it from a guy that is relatively new to the lucid dreaming world and give it a shot. Only good can come of it.

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Originally Posted by sivason

Hi there, and welcome to DV!4) The only way to master LDing is through increasing your awareness while awake. I think most practiced LDers are more involved with waking life than before they got in to lucid dreaming.

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Yup, this is a big incentive for me. I've worked quite a bit in recent years becoming more aware and present. Something piqued my interest in LDs a few weeks back and I recognize a synergy between some LD practices and contemplative/meditative practices. It just 'feels' like a natural fit.

Also there's the fact dreams are experience that for most people never rise to conscious awareness except after the fact. Seems to me being lucid in a dream is an addition to, not a subtraction from, one's life.

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Originally Posted by ComeOnTown

2 I'd become confused between real life and the dream

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I have to say this bothered me sometimes too, hehe. But as it has been said, so far I've never had any difficulty distinguishing Real Life from Dreams. The only times my brain has played some tricks on me, have been when drinking alcohol in a party, when feeling very sleepy (like, after eating a lot for lunch - Nap time!), or when finishing a task that has had me super-concentrated. Even in those cases, RL has always had something different I can feel straight out. And even if it wasn't like that, Reality Checks are always there to do just that: "Check the Reality" :).

ComeOnTown: Your concerns are wholly unfounded. Not sure how you even managed to come up with such a list. Even if you suffer debilitating anxiety in real life, there's little likelihood that a lucid dream will negatively impact that. The balance of your concerns (forgive me for being blunt) are baseless as you will discover if you put in the time and effort to educate yourself as to what lucid dreams really constitute. Anyone who claims (as a legal defense or simple as a lame excuse) to have shot anyone while lucid dreaming is an out and out liar. While dreaming (lucidly or otherwise) your body is paralyzed...you couldn't move if you wanted to let alone operate a gun, aim and shoot someone. The idea is preposterous.

You have a lot to learn on of the topic of lucid dreaming. I promise you, though, if you DO undertake to read legitimate book on the topic, your concerns will completely disappear. Anything written by Stephan LaBerge, PhD is a GREAT place to start.