I recently had my first lucid dream that I can remember! It was odd, I remember that I figured out that I was dreaming before I did the reality check. I was in my church setting up the sound system. once I realized I was lucid I grabbed my nose and tried to breath through it and I could! I was so excited, I ran into the lobby and jumped about 6 feet off the ground or so. Unfortunately after I left the building I woke up (I did a reality check, and I was really awake this time). I hadn't read about techniques to stay lucid until today, I had no idea I could make myself stay lucid. Anyways, I was only lucid for a few minutes but I've been trying for months now and it feels good to finally experience it!

One thing I'm confused about though, is that it still felt a lot like a dream. It didn't feel realistic like I was thinking/hoping it would be. Will that change as I get more experienced? Are there any techniques I could try to make it feel more real?

what I was expecting it to feel like when I woke up was something like: "wow that felt like I was awake the whole time!"
maybe I need to work on my dream recall some more...