Woke up

[the_gloaming]

I was having a typical dream when for no reason in particular I became aware I was dreaming. But as soon as I thought that I immediately woke up. Does this happen to anyone else? How do I prevent it?

[Newbiedreamr]

Yes... Two nights ago the exact same thing happened to me. You can try dream spinning or rubbing your hands together. If you're new to LDs like me I'm guessing that it'll take some practice to be able to remain lucid.

[day_dreamer]

Just count yourself lucky you've reached this stage i haven't yet !

[LBT Petrie]

Yeah I have this problem too. We just get a little too excited and wake up. I'm thinking this goes away with time as we get used to that dream feeling. Right now I'm at the point where I can stay lucid for an extended period of time but have no control. LOL I just kinda walk around talking to people.

[Dragos Dreamer]

It's common to wake up almost immediately after becoming lucid for your first couple lucid dreams (I'm assuming you're new to lucid dreaming). The same thing happened to me. It's just so hard to put so much time and effort into one goal, then NOT be excited when you finally achieve it! There are many ways to sustain a lucid dream. Dream spinning or rubbing your hands, like Newbiedreamr said. My favorite though is to just sit down, look at the ground, and look at the details you see. The ground is usually the most stable part of the lucid world, so if everything begins to fade, you can sometimes stabilize the world by focusing on the small things you see on the ground. Such as a leaf that has fallen from a tree. Take notice how it has begun to turn brown from lack of nutrient. There may be a crack in the side where a small animal has stepped on it. You may even want to slowly tear the leaf in half starting at that crack. The objective being to take your mind off everything and just calm down while focusing on something stable.

[TheDGP]

I had this experience about 3 times on the second day of trying to LD. It was just so exciting to know that I was dreaming that I just woke up. This hasn't happened to me lately though only on that one night.

[Gnumonic]

I had that happen on my first night of trying to LD. Didn't have enough time to even try to rub my hands together. Three times, most of the time i didn't feel like i got excited at all. The seconds night i didn't get one LD, going on to my third night now, guess i will have to keep trying.

[Bear]

This happens to me as well. I don't get excited about being lucid so I'm not waking myself up that way, and it's not like the dream's fading. Just "I'm dreaming"... a second passes... awake. If I make it past the first couple of seconds then I'm good to go, but that often doesn't happen. There's no time to spin or rub hands, and I'm not sure that would help because it doesn't feel like the dream is fading, I just snap awake. I don't know why it's happening to me. I figure I must lose half of my possible LDs that way. On a side note, one time I did the lucid -> immediately awake thing and it turned out to be a false awakening, but I caught it and so got to have my lucid dream anyways. Remember to do a reality check when you "wake up," you may find your chance to LD isn't gone after all.

[the_gloaming]

The "snap" you describe is exactly what happened. Everything turned black and I realized I was staring at the back of my eyelids

[Gnumonic]

Thats the same with me, didn't see it fade for a second. That must mean I got too excited and didn't even realize it. All three of my LD's did that. I'm still new though so I will just have to keep at it.

[LucidMike14]

I was having a typical dream when for no reason in particular I became aware I was dreaming. But as soon as I thought that I immediately woke up. Does this happen to anyone else? How do I prevent it? yeah, you could have got excited, or maybe you just woke up. at least you were lucid, even if you didn't do anything it is still a good sign