Anyway, everyone, I'm reporting to you after my first (unsuccessful) attempt at WILD. Please try and read this and tell me if you know anything that could help with my next attempt.
I didn't use the DIELD because every time I try to do something like that, I decide I would rather keep sleeping than try to have a lucid dream. I waited until I was pretty tired to try this, it was dark outside, and the house was as quiet as it gets. I didn't eat soon before, I used the bathroom right before, and I sat in the dark for awhile to adjust my eyes.
I started off counting breaths in German like this: "-inhale- Eins -exhale- I'm going to dream," but I kept zoning out and forgetting what sentence came after the number. Each time, I would think, "What am I going to do?" and remember that I was going to dream. I slipped into English at around the 200 mark, I just started in German so I wouldn't lose consciousness during the lower numbers. I imagined a picture of each number in my head as I thought it.
I was doing pretty well, though I had some minor urges to move, until I got to 500, when my throat started to itch really badly and I thought I was going to cough. I was too stubborn to give up, so I just swallowed and focused on the numbers. The itch went away by 600, but my heart started pounding.
The next few minutes passed without event, but I had what might have been hypnogogic sounds at around 850. The sounds were of two small things, about 20 breaths apart, hitting the wall or bed headboard near me. I got kind of scared, because 1. If they weren't imagined, those were the sounds of two bugs landing near me and I hate bugs and 2. If they weren't imagined, what if I ended up in a dream about being covered in bugs? I tried to ignore it and focus on the numbers.
At 900, I started getting distracted, thinking about how I was going to get online and tell people about what it was like to WILD and get advice from them on how to do it faster, and also, I kept thinking of The Brady Bunch theme song for no reason. I've never even watched that show.
1000 was where the trouble started. I hadn't noticed at first, but my left arm was bent kind of awkwardly, and my elbow started to ache really badly. I told myself, "I've probably been in this position before while I slept without a problem, so maybe it's the big signal from my brain to move that I read about. If I wait this out, I might pass into a dream!" But I kept wondering, "What if I'm pinching a nerve and my arm will end up hurting for a long time or falling off?" So before I could help myself, I moved my finger, then my arm. I checked the clock and about 80 minutes had passed since I started my attempt. I did as many reality checks as I could think of after that, so I'm pretty certain that I'm awake right now.
Any advice for next time? I tried the cellphone trick but it didn't work. Did I make some glaringly obvious mistake? How close did I come?