Hi bemistaken, glad to have you here. I feel alot of your pain, I really do. From the fear or water right down to insomnia. I will say, one area I had help with was when I was having strange experiences similar to your OBE's, my mom and brother were doing the same thing. So I didn't feel afraid like you unfortunately did. BUT, now that you know there's loads of people who have OBEs or related experiences (and even better, hone them in on a regular basis to enable them to have consistent lucid dreams), you're definitely going to be ok here
First thing I have is good news: I have most of my dreams once the sun has come up already as well (due to that blasted insomnia), and therefore most of my lucids are at that time. Not that I purposely try to have lucids at that time. Rather, that's just my way of coping, and having lucid dreams in spite of the insomnia. The downside is, I usually only have them on my days off, since I know I can sleep in as late as I want.
Second good news: your idea of WBTB is perfect for your situation. For starters, try to figure out when approximately you fall asleep, say, on the weekends when you sleep later. Then time your alarm for about 4-6 hours after that. THEN, stay up for a little bit and then go back to sleep while doing MILD. This little pattern helps get your mind aware enough while keeping your body tired enough, to be able to sleep and dream while maintaining just enough awareness to induce a lucid dream. Sounds a bit fussy at first I admit, but it mostly just happens naturally when you regularly set your alarm for that time, while practicing a higher degree of awareness for that brief period that you're awake.
I know I've just hit you with alot of info, so please let me know if you have any questions ok? And welcome to DreamViews

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