Hello! (New forum-goer introduction)

[AzureSkiesAbove]

Hi Folks, I've always had excellent dream recall and had a few lucid dreaming experiences early on in my life. Over the course of the past few months, as I've been studying lucid dreaming and techniques for inducing lucid dreams, I've managed to have several. Everybody I talk to about this seems to behave as though I'm crazy (sometimes even expressing concern for my mental state ><), so I though it would be nice to join a community of like-minded people who've shared similar experiences. I have pretty severe social anxiety disorder and have heard of people using lucid dreaming as a tool for exposure therapy to help them be overcome phobias, so I'm particularly interested in this aspect of lucid dreaming and would appreciate it if anybody has any stories or experience relating to this. Thanks all, I hope this forum provides what I'm looking for

[Oneironaut Zero]

Thanks all, I hope this forum provides what I'm looking for We hope it does, too. And you might find this place to have one of the best online communities around, so, with any luck, it might even inadvertently help you with your social anxiety, once you get a little used to the place. Who knows? In any case, I would definitely recommend staring up a dream journal, as it's probably going to be your best friend, through your journey (back?) into lucid dreaming. Check out the tutorials, on site, and don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. Enjoy your stay!

[Mancon]

Welcome to the forums! Don't worry, you're not alone. Most of the people I talk to about lucid dreaming (other than the people on the site) think it's really weird and sometimes they don't believe it. Nobody I know is into lucid dreaming like me. Luckily, I have Dreamviews to make up for that! This site really does have an awesome community. I see you already have joined the IRC. Dreamviews chat is a great place to make a ton of friends here on the site, and is a ton of fun to be in. I hope you become a regular! Anyway, if you have any questions about this site or lucid dreaming just send me a PM and I will answer you ASAP. Good luck!

[AzureSkiesAbove]

We hope it does, too. And you might find this place to have one of the best online communities around, so, with any luck, it might even inadvertently help you with your social anxiety, once you get a little used to the place. Who knows? In any case, I would definitely recommend staring up a dream journal, as it's probably going to be your best friend, through your journey (back?) into lucid dreaming. Check out the tutorials, on site, and don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. Enjoy your stay! Thanks for the welcome! I've already started a dream journal and had a lucid dream about four days after I began. I've heard it's crucial for lucid dreaming and I guess it's true.

[AzureSkiesAbove]

Welcome to the forums! Don't worry, you're not alone. Most of the people I talk to about lucid dreaming (other than the people on the site) think it's really weird and sometimes they don't believe it. Nobody I know is into lucid dreaming like me. Luckily, I have Dreamviews to make up for that! This site really does have an awesome community. I see you already have joined the IRC. Dreamviews chat is a great place to make a ton of friends here on the site, and is a ton of fun to be in. I hope you become a regular! Anyway, if you have any questions about this site or lucid dreaming just send me a PM and I will answer you ASAP. Good luck! Thanks very much! I've enjoyed the chat here, it seems like a friendly and helpful community. I will keep your offer in mind and may take you up on it in the future (it'd be nice to get advice from someone experienced, which you seem to be based on your LD count).

[dreamst8]

Hello AzureSkiesAbove! Oneironaut and Mancon speak the truth. This is a WONDERFUL community... and support system. I, like you, battle social anxiety. Not so much these days as in the past. About 10-15 years ago it was REALLY bad. It's MUCH better now, but, as I'm sure you can imagine, it's still with me. It is true that lucid dreaming can help with SAD, because the best treatment for SAD is social interaction. In waking life, social interaction is very difficult to manage when you have SAD. This is where having social interaction in your dreams is beneficial. In your dreams, you can have all the social interaction you want. And in a lucid dream, your anxiety is diminished because you know that you're only dreaming. So you can acquire the value of social interaction without having to actually interact with people. I'm definitely a friend. And I'm sure you'll find many more here. If you have any newbie questions you want to ask a fellow newbie, feel free to PM me. And if you want to talk about SAD at all, I'm open for that as well. Take care! Hope to tty soon. Happy dreaming! DreamSt8