treatment resistant GAD and lucidity

Hello people of world view. First timer here, I've been inconsistently lucid dreaming for the past few years. through sleep paralysis and inducing hypnogogic imagery, however my treatment resistant generalised anxiety ( some of it's symptoms is akin to something like chronic fatigue) is making my life unbearable, especially now that I've gotten a full time job in sales that requires constant interaction with people. i don't have time to calm down and gather my thoughts anymore, i don't have the luxury of being able to stay in meditative state anymore. the mental chatter never stops because i need to stay focused on work. and have to talk with people for most of the day always racing against time in a very stressful environment. what can i do to achieve a lucid state again ? unfortunately i can not afford to quit my job.

I find that focusing on my dream journey helps with my anxiety, which just so happens to go hand in hand with nightmares. Find a dream goal and it will give you something to look forward to each day. On the same note, writing down your dreams each morning will track your progress and increase your recall, helping to attain lucidity. I also find that it is a welcome distraction.

As for your day to day stress at work, I am so sorry you’re experiencing that. I have been there too and it sucks. That being said, try to find moment of calm in-between the choas. For example, take a deep breath before each sip of your coffee/tea, enjoy the aroma or the warmth of the cup in your hand. If you need to walk outside notice the color of the trees or the scent of the rain. The chaotic environment cannot steal these beautiful little joys from you even if sometimes they are hard to find. I wish you all the best!

Thank you for your input. I am currently journaling my dreams but it's the same stuff from my daily life at work everyday. I did have a lucid dream yesterday which surprised me, but i am running into another issue that I've encountered before, my dreams aren't that vivid it's all blurry and stuff and feels like I'm actively imagining them, good luck to you too

Ugh. It’s the worst when our anxieties seep into our dreams isn’t it? I try to keep recall of these types of dreams brief so I don’t give them precedence. That might be why they are blurry? Maybe you don’t want to rehash your day to day. What does it mean ‘like you are actively imaging them?’ I’m intrigued!

it doesn't feel like normal vivid rem sleep dream. it feels like I'm laying down and forcefully imagining these dreams, not just affecting them or controlling my actions, even tho I'm lucid the dream is the opposite of vivid.

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Originally Posted by shook1

it doesn't feel like normal vivid rem sleep dream. it feels like I'm laying down and forcefully imagining these dreams, not just affecting them or controlling my actions, even tho I'm lucid the dream is the opposite of vivid.

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Hi there. We're all so different in the nuances of our dreaming that the phrase "normal vivid rem sleep dream" has me chuckling. What is normal about dreams, really? What I can say is I both sympathize *and* empathize with you, having spent over nine years in a similarly abusive environment. Looking back, I often feel like my dreams were trying to help me through and out of situations, with me rarely knowing how to accept their help. I observe that it takes a certain amount of *free* energy for the dreams to crystalize, or for you to bring them back intact from your dreaming realm. And I know that in the corporate sales world, the purpose is a manic grind that uses/abuses/burns-out even the best--that's its design, and one you must understand and make peace with for it not to be a constant bother. It's entirely possible dreaming tries to help with this adjustment, with this smoothing transition to a place where you can better manage your work load without that being *all* that you do/are. At the very least, approaching dreams with the assumption they are trying to *teach* you something of worth helps condition you to be more thoughtful and tuned in/receptive; and most scholars understand the value of conditioning in getting effective results (it can make all the difference between dreams that make you chuckle and dreams that play off a fear or other mis-function). Remember: *you* are the explorer, picking your way through this wildly complex life, and all throughout this, dreams are offering to help. (Whether they do that as an outside source or only from within the power of your own mind, the end results can be the same: glorious progress.)