Thread: I know that I'm dreaming but I don't REALLY know that I'm dreaming?

Not really sure how to explain this. I used to be extremely active on this site and I hope to get back into it. I haven't had any legitimate LDs in a couple months I'd say, but I feel like in the majority of my dreams, on at least some level, I'm aware that I'm dreaming.

For example, in my dream last night, a girl and I were trying to find a river or a lake, because for some reason we were trying to go fishing together, and I vividly remember thinking multiple times at various points throughout the dream, "I need to find that lake, or I'm going to wake up, because I've been in this dream for a while."

But I don't REALLY know that I'm dreaming. I don't exactly know how to explain it. Like, I recognize that what I'm experiencing is artificial, but I don't truly get that I have the ability to do whatever I want, because I'm asleep. I know that I'm asleep, but I still feel like I'm awake, I guess.

Does this ever happen to you guys? It's getting rather frustrating, considering it's been happening to me for a while now.

I also even do things in the dream that imply I know I'm dreaming. For example, in the same dream I talked about earlier, I was stealing a car to get away from some cult camp (a lot happened in that dream.. lmao) and I was afraid that there wouldn't be keys in the car that I was breaking into, so I just said "There are car keys in the glove compartment." I broke into the car and immediately opened it up and there were magically keys there.