Can you be calm in a nightmare? I think it was more a state of desparation because I'd become so sleep deprived from trying not to sleep that I had to learn how to fight back or loose my mind. I had reoccurring nightmares so bad at the time I learned to be lucid that it was like a reflex. I had to fight back. I guess because of the reoccurring nature of the dreams I became aware that it was just another nightmare but I wasn't actually calm. I went from scared and desperate to angry I guess since I started fighting back.