The last week and half have been horrible for me!! I started a new job recently, a really cruddy minimum wage job at some theatre.The job is easy, but long, boring and at times too stressfull for the little money I get with it!

over a week ago I was taking a nap, after a long day at work. I close my eyes and I can feel myself drifting off. HI images start to form and soon enough, it takes the form of man. I try to focus on him, remembering that you can WILD during nap times too! Theres a counter in front of me. And then the man asks me "How much is a popcorn??"

I snap awake! I couldn't nap or rest. Every time I closed my eyes I was back at work!!!

That night I did some breathing excersices and counting to calm myself. Then I decided to give WILD another go. The HIs start to form. People start to appear, and then they start asking. "Can I have a large popcorn please?" "Give me extra butter!!" "A large soda" "I asked for no ice!" "Gimme me a big fat pickle" ......Not again........

It only lasts for a couple of seconds before I start to think "No im not at work!!! Nooo! I dont wanna be here!" Sometimes I snap out of instantly the moment I realize I left work long ago, other times I have to feel the bed with my hands.

Anyways, its been happening for several nights now - the images of work keep infecting my HIs! I really wanna try a WILD, but how can I now? From what I understood im not supposed to control the HIs, just let them flow. The moment I see..work...I get so stressed out I dont wanna continue the WILD.

But then when I dont continue the WILD, I just fall asleep naturally. And what do you think the first dream of my night is like ME BACK AT WORK! And the dream is such..a deep sleep sorta dream im hardly lucid, hardly aware. The dream is fuzzy, hardly solid. Its only solid enough to give me the message "ITS 3 AM AND YOU'RE STILL AT WORK!"

I also had trouble falling asleep naturally last week.

One day I went to bed around 1am. And I tossed and turned until the sun came up. And the next night was even worse. I didn't fall asleep at all! I saw the sun come up again, and I felt so drained and exhausted, like I could pass out in bed. You'd think that feeling of passing out would let me fall asleep? No, I still didn't fall asleep, I was still awake hours later when my alarm rang. Time to go to work.............

so what can I do if this happens again? I dont do well without sleep! And what can I do about the hypnotic imagery of work? I tried to imagine a forest last night to avoid them, but popcorn started to appear in my forest.............

is trying to induce a lucid dream a good or a bad idea when you can't sleep, will it help or make it worse? Are WILDs and VILDs affected by your natural sleep rate, or even Self Suggesting? Such as, it can take me two hours most nights to fall asleep.

I dont know what to do. I came here becuase I was having a lucid dream dry spell and decided "I should learn how to induce one!!" instead of letting them naturally happen. But is that possible..if..Im having sleeping problems??