New to LD and looking for answers

My name is Sean and I've recently committed myself to achieving lucidity in my dreams. I've had them before as a child and I've been interested in them for a long time. I've only recently begun trying because for a very long time I was a chronic heavy user of marijuana. During ask that time I almost never even remembered dreaming. I had a family tragedy very recently that completely changed my life's priorities and goals. Since I quit smoking I've had vivid dreams almost every night and I've been writing them down in a dream journal. I've been doing daily reality checks and even finding time to practice breathing meditation. Each entry in my journal has been getting more and more detailed as I remember more and more. Last night I decided to try to go to sleep listening to isochronic tones. It seemed to be doing everything I'd read they should...heavy yet tingly legs, pulses and swirls of light in my eyelids, dizziness...etc. the one thing I couldn't do was fall asleep. I felt like I would be about to go somewhere, maybe entering a dream, but my heart rate would speed up and I'd snap totally awake, almost afraid that something bad was happening. After the entire track had ended, I took off my headphones and was finally able to drift off to sleep. The result, my first night of zero dream recall since my journey began. I'm still waiting on some of my ordered literature to show up for more guidance, but I thought I'd come here to introduce myself and see if anybody on here might have some thoughts or ideas about how to continue my progression. Thank you in advance to everybody and I look forward to talking with you.

If you have a random time where you all the sudden cant remember your dreams, drink some apple juice before you go to bed and that will really help

Hey there sreed628!

Sorry to hear about your family :( In the other hand, it's good that you quit marijuana, I'm sure the improved dream recall is way better to have (okay, you don't have to answer this ehehe ^^)
Keep the effort going, one night is a drop in the ocean :) What techniques have you been using so far? Maybe there's some improvements you can make to get back on track pretty fast ^^

Thanks Zoth....yes it is better to dream than have the smoke!! I think one of my problems is that I've been switching back and forth from trying to do WILD and DILD. I didn't know which one would be better for me to try as a beginner. I think I've finally settled on DILD since WILD has been causing me too much anxiety and sleep loss. The only techniques I really know are daily reality checks and some vocal and mental repetition of what I want before going to sleep ("I will become lucid tonight" and "I will remember my dreams tomorrow"). I have yet to dream about what I want to and certainly nothing lucid yet. I reckon I'll just keep doing my reality checks until they become completely habitual and hope one night I finally do one in a dream. Any other techniques you think can help with DILDs