Alright guys need your help, finally made an account

Hey guys I'm brand new (long time lurker first time poster) and need some advice from people who experienced with what I hope are normal beginner symptoms, although it's very possible I'm just paranoid.

I spent some time reading guides on lucid dreaming and began writing an A on my hand and using the nose plug and finger through hand reality checks . I stayed very consistent with this for a few days and then began to do it just once in a while. I had no success whatsoever for 2 or 3 weeks until it finally happened, and It was when I almost completely stopped learning or focusing about/on
lucid dreaming.

To keep it very short and very simple during a dream I found myself in a rush to turn lights on, and as many of you know no matter how many lights I tried to turn on it's resulted in them almost burning out or slightly flickering once and then becoming completely dead. After three attempts I asked myself why this was happening, told myself that it's fine I'm awake and proceeded to grab my nose. First breath in felt funny and second one I took a full, deep breath directly through my plugged
nose (amazing feeling by the way) and "dropped", or at least it felt like I fell into full awareness. Naturally it was completely unexpected and it only lasted 10-15 seconds because I was exited and tried to get outside to attempt to fly. I would describe this feeling very similar to swimming against a current down my hallway which I became lucid at one side of, and made my way towards the other into my living room where I saw all the windows and tried to get beyond them as fast as possible.

Now here is my problem

I have very vivid dreams quite often ( even before learning of lucid dreaming) and have experienced sleep paralysis not knowing what it was which is quite frightening. Now that I know what It is I have experienced it and been fine. I find my body waking itself up at around 5-7 am the last few nights in a row. I then for some reason obsess about the fact that I may fall into sleep paralysis and even though I know what it is I am very anxious about it. What is insane is that this morning in particular I was laying in bed around 6am and figured I would try and sleep and look past my anxiety. Basically being so paranoid about falling into SP I actually fell into it(I think). I definitely could not move and almost right away I heard strange high pitched music and saw a white pattern with a gears of war logo type skull in my vision. At this point I was aware of what was happening but remained calm because I am aware of what a WILD consists of a little bit(never read a tutorial) and let this play out. I felt like my mind was a projector and a movie of me receiving advice from a fellow team member on some sort of sports team was playing very briefly, the perspective was that my head was down and i didn't get any clear view of my surroundings. I was not at any point in a lucid dream here. I then woke up and felt unsettled.

I am just worried about feeling anxious in the morning if i wake up earlier and wish to go back to sleep. Lucid dreaming is something I had a very tough time believing was actually possible until i experienced it on purpose ( via a reality check rather than a fluke or very vivid dream ) but its not like i dread it. I am actually very exited that I experienced this and am looking forward to having more dreams like this one if I am lucky enough. I just find the whole concept of WILD dreaming very intimidating and it might be because I haven't actually read up on it yet.

So what it comes down too is I am looking for similar experiences to mine or advice from anyone who has it too offer.

Thanks in advance!

Cliffs: Had first lucid dream using reality checks, becoming nervous about SP in the morning when I wake up naturally and wish to go back to sleep. Looking for advice/similar experience.

Hello, I'm new here too, but I've been LD'ing for a while now :)

There's no reason to fear SP or WILD. SP is just a natural function, and it happens every night whether you are aware of it or not. The images you were seeing are known as Hypnagogic Imagery, and they're basically the beginnings of dreams. It's not uncommon to see them while you're in SP. If you find yourself in SP the best thing you can do is try to imagine yourself either rising out of bed or moving out of it. Don't actually try to do it, just imagine it. Your mind is in a state where you can start dreaming very easily, and there's a good chance this kind of imagination could put you through to a dream so you're not stuck there watching a movie in your mind. I hope that helps, and remember, there's nothing to fear ;)

If you're really bothered by Sleep Paralysis, breath as deeply as you can for a while and you should break it. As a kid, I had SP very often, never panicking, but never understanding what it was. Now, I try to take advantage of it (happens involuntarily once a month) to OBE.

PS: You will get better and better at lucid dreaming over time. Just keep a dream journal. I ised to neglect it but now that I have one I experience LDs very often. I'd suggest to try wilding on purpose only after getting familiar with "normal" lucid dreams. Good luck!

I've experienced all types of things like what you are describing, and more. There are a million states of consciousness that lie between alertness and asleep.
I can't make you not be anxious. All that I can say is that lucid dreaming is not only real, but once you get the hang of it can be quite easy and powerful. I have lucid dreams most nights.

In the morning, try waking yourself up a little before trying to lucid dream. This will either make it extremely easy to initiate a lucid dream, or throw you at full force into sleep paralysis. LOL! The latter usually doesn't happen to me, though.
Study WBTB method.

Yeah, Rhawin gave you some good advice there. Just relax and try to not let the SP frighten you, it's harmless and extremely awesome! :) Good luck!

Thanks for the replies guys. After having a solid sleep last night I no longer feel any anxiety whatsoever. I think my post was slightly premature as I am one to jump to a conclusion.

It's actually very exiting to see such a large community dedicated to something like this. Can't wait for the summer when I can focus more on sleep and less on school/degrees/future/girlfriend.

Thanks again everyone