Hi I'm new here..

Hello my name is Usagi, I'm 20 years old and I've only had one lucid dream and it was really odd... I was having a nightmare and realized there is no way it could be real.. but I was still extremely scared and I remember panicking trying to wake myself up in my dream. I was pinching my arms and yelling "Wake up!". Eventually I did wake up, I can't remember if I woke up because of what I was doing, I can't remember anything after that.
When I was younger I was plagued by nightmares, I wouldn't sleep for days and when I would have bad dreams I would wake up shaking, sweating and I would have to collect myself before getting out of bed.
You can probably imagine how I wouldn't be sleeping well... especially I think because I was much younger, and for my age I would say the dreams were very disturbing.

I feel like as I got older it eventually lightened up. However, I still get them and when I do I notice it affects my mood for the entire rest of the day. I read that learning to become aware your dreaming and becoming able to change the settings in your dreams can really help someone deal with nightmares better. I would love to learn how to do this.

I also joined because I've been using the dreammoods.com dream dictionary for years, and last night I found this forum. I was reading over some posts last night and I feel like I could learn a lot by talking with people who are more experienced in dreams. :content:

Hello and welcome to Dreamviews! Nightmares can actually become pretty useful for a lucid dreamer. They can be a great dream sign for you and help lead to lucidity. I suggest browsing through the tutorial section to get a general overview of the many techniques and methods used for obtaining lucidity. The tutorial section can be found here, http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...splay.php?f=25 . Also, remind yourself before sleep that the next time you feel fear, see monsters, etc. that you are dreaming. Well, good luck to you!

Thank you... The last few nights I have been trying to keep that in my mind before falling asleep... You guys have a lot of useful information on this site... very helpful!

Welcome to Dreamviews!

I find that lots of naturals taught themselves at young ages to avoid having nightmares.

Thank you! I should have definitely looked into this sooner.. :)

Welcome to DV. Once you become experienced you'll be able to overcome nightmares so they aren't really a problem anymore.