Thread: Please, I need help. My mind is thinking that everything around me is not real - Lucid Dream caused

Hi.

This is my first post; I've found your forum since I've been interested in Lucid Dreaming for some time now.

Please take 5 minutes to read my situation and point in any helping direction, since I'm afraid I'd go crazy.

What I'm feeling now is the feeling that nothing is real. That everthing here is fake; people, world, news; whatever you name, it thinks it's part of a dream / alternate reality / etc. I say "it", because I'm struggling to snap out of this feeling.

You may call it "Matrix"/"Truman Show" like or something; but even in "Matrix" there was a "real" world out there. What I'm believing now and I'm afraid of even talking of it (just to not make it worse), is that I / some being is dreaming, thinking, I don't know what could be, but I feel like I'm loosing my awareness.

All this, as you may say, goes against using a computer, asking in a forum, etc; since to do that I'd have to believe that those are "real", even to start asking for help.

Right now I'm at work, carrying on my everyday doings, and trying not to "think" about my problem; just not to make things worse and to hope that I'd get better eventually and be back on track.

A little history here... like 5 years ago, I got the same feeling. I'm 23 now, and then I was at high school, and in Literature class we were reading material that was about "Dreams inside dreams" (you know, there are many authors that wrote about it in the past). By the end of the year, I was in the kitchen in my house, my mom talking on the phone. As I was going to the other room, she was saying something that I didn't hear, so then she say a phrase she never told me before "Hey... I'm here". That was when everything collapse. I instantly got dizzy, started to think that I was in a comma or something and she was calling for me; I don't know. May sound crazy, but that's how I felt. Later, for some months (really, I don't remember for how long) I was afraid; talked about this to her, I even recall crying trying to explain what I was feeling, but as you may guess, it gets really hard if you talk to people that have NO idea as what you are talking about (dreams inside dreams). I even went to see a psychologyst; and it was so useless that I dropped it. Why? Because they were asking me if I saw imaginary people, if I masturbated, if people on the internet were telling me to do things... Oh my god, they had no idea what it was about my problem. I didn't/don't see people, have crazy thoughts (well, besides this reality thing), don't want to murder, don't care to start a fire, etc etc.

Anyway, after X time (I don't remember how long or how I got out of it), the last sunday happened again. I remember having a lucid dreaming where I was sitted in a chair, possesed by the devil and laughing a-la Linda Blair, wawy too loud. That, somehow, triggered this situation. When I woke up I started to think "why if I was possesed and I wouldn't know?", and that lead me to think that I'm not in reality or something.

Wow... long post. Probably now many people reading...

Anyway, this is how things are. Maybe I'm missing something here, but that's most of it. I need help. Please, at least some comments, I don't know.

What would be great is to have a reality-check here, and say "hey, this is life, not a dream or a crazy thing", but I can't. No turning off-on lights or watching digital clocks help. What would help (I guess) is that (unreleased to public?) pill that makes one forget bad things...

Tried Googling about my problem and couldn't found anything. I guess that, somewhere in the world there must be / have been someone who suffered the same thing.

My "psych" analysis is that; it all started when reading those things at school. Then triggered by the fact that my mom say that and, now I tell you, some days before that time I think I had my first sleep paralysis experience (where I felt I died...). Now , the possesion thing triggered it again. Also, I consider myself a "excluded person"; never dated any girl (I'm not ugly/fat), always been ignored by people, I'm not joking around all day -> that leads to more people taking me as being too serious, etc, etc etc. That made me think also that I'm an isolated case and so, the "Truman Show" feeling (that nothing is real) came.

Please, let me know what you think; or if I least you read through here.

Thanks in advance from a sick ('); afraid of dreams taking over his life, person.

I wish I could welcome you on better circumstances. But welcome none the less.
Fear is your enemy here.
Reality
Dreams
perception.
It is all relative. It is how you perceive things. You are not and will not go crazy. From lucid dreaming I should add.

Our minds truly do believe our dreams are real when we are having them. It knows no difference.
A lucid dream on the other hand in a conscious perception of the dream mind.
This can be confusing at first if your LDs are real in nature.

Don't over analyze your waking life. By doing so you are altering your natural way to perceive the truth.

Does that make ANY sense?

I feel that way sometime too but its not as bad as yours. When it happens to me its more like I'll be walking around outside and thinking that this could all just be a dream. It sounds like you're getting a little paranoid over it but if you stop and think about what life really is how is it any different from a realistic dream. You have an internal viewpoint looking out and you control what you do and others react and thing result from what you do. Sometimes I think of reality sort of like that Spongebob episode where Plankton is inside a robot controlling it. Almsot like life is on a screen in front of you and you react using a body that you control. I don't think you are going crazy, I think its something that happens to all of us at one point, especially when we're all (or trying to be) lucid dreamers. The more you worry about it the worse it will likely be. I think its perfectly normal and something that dream yogis eventually realize.

Haven't had this experience you describe but have some advice that my apply;
When you are in the middle of one of these episodes take stock of how it actually feels in your body. Not what you are THINKING about it, but what you are FEELING physically. Keep your attention on that physical feeling - your mind will try to track back to your thoughts, don't let it. You should notice that feeling subsiding, perhaps draining away like water in a leaky bucket, until it is gone.

It works for me when my head is taking me places I don't want to go.

Good Luck!

What You are experiencing is simply a new realization concerning everything around us.
I'm pretty sure millions of people go through this exact process at this very moment. It is nothing to be afraid of, but it is always confusing at first.
You just noticed that nothing is as certain as people make things appear. Reality is debatable, as much as everything else.
You should be happy with this happening. It opens up the mind, lets You see things from a whole new perspective.

You want something to hold on to, now Your world fell apart, right?
I wonder what You will do.

Other people on this forum have had the same problem I remember reading about 3-5 threads on this exact same things. Not being able to distinguish reality from dreams something to that effect. Although I don't really have a solution for you >_> I'll give it a search though.

Thanks for your response... it really helps to read different support words from different people.

About me having a "new realization concerning everything around us."... yes, that may be so. But I don't see a way to snap out of it; no. Why? Because how would I forget about this? Would I just have to "let it go" or what?

Thanks again.

The same thing happened to me when I started LDing. My views of the world totaly changed. It feels like I don't fit into this society, like I'm an alien... lol
I don't worry about it at all. I know I'm going to die, untill then I want to have as much fun as possible. I suggest you do the same. Good luck and stuff.

Originally Posted by Dan_Aykroyd

Thanks for your response... it really helps to read different support words from different people.

About me having a "new realization concerning everything around us."... yes, that may be so. But I don't see a way to snap out of it; no. Why? Because how would I forget about this? Would I just have to "let it go" or what?

Thanks again.

You want to snap out of it?
How can we be helpful if You don't know what is real or not?
We can't help You right now, unless all You want is to be told what is true.
I just wonder what You will do, is all.