Okay well firstly, i only heard about lucid dreaming yesterday while browsing the internet and i really wanted to try it, as anyone would, so i read up on how exactly to have one and that same night i lay in bed muttering the words "I will control my dreams tonight." until i drifted into a sort of half awake, half asleep state. At this point i started hearing a strange ringing in my ear. I know what sleep paralysis is and i read a bit about it and i believe i may have entered it, i only had my eyes open once and i saw my bedroom curtains move. I quickly shut my eyes again. I don't really remember how but i slipped into a dream after that and i sort of dreamt that i was laying in bed trying to get to sleep but i had this really vague idea that i was dreaming so i got up and went to the bathroom. It all felt so real, i heard the creaky floorboards as i left my room and i noticed that the light in the bathroom turned on by itself. I covered my nose and mouth, but i could still breathe. I remember feeling this rush of excitement but i quickly calmed myself and i walked back to my bedroom, where this grey and white cat came out of nowhere, i dont have any pets or anything but i thought nothing of it. I also remember thinking what i should do, so i opened the window and thought i could try to fly. I was confident that i wasnt going to get hurt so i jumped, glided a bit but landed on the floor, the cat followed behind be but ran into a bush. I tried to fly again by flapping my arms wildly, but i could never go higher than a few metres. I noticed that there was a large TV where my window should have been with some sort Cartoon showing on it. I woke up quite gently shortly after and my bedsheets were everywhere. I remember strange details like feeling the cold of the metal outside and the creaking of the floors. So i'm lying here in my bed now and i feel strange, i remember my dream almost perfectly but i'm not entirely sure i was in control. I also remember my "sleep paralysis" stage and i was kinda spooked by that but i don't know of it was actually sleep paralysis or just tricks of the mind. I guess i have a few questions right now: did i actually have a lucid dream? If i did, is this routine normal? Was i actually in sleep paralysis? Is there a way i can have a lucid dream without going through sleep paralysis? Is there a way i can learn to control my dreams better or is it just practice?

I dont know if i want to go through that again, that sleep paralysis thing was really quite scary. Should i give it another try?

Thanks a lot for reading and feel free to answer as many or as little of the questions as you like, i just want to hear other people's views on this happening