Hey fellow lucid dreamers!

Lately, I've been looking up sleep paralysis since I've been having them for about 2 years now. They used to be horrible experiences, with that feeling of a presence in the room, but since I've encountered lucid dreaming, I actually have something to look forward to when I go to sleep.

I don't know too much with how it works and the techniques, though I've been reading about them and trying to have one myself. But here's my question: how do you know for sure that you're lucid dreaming? Because the one I had the other night seemed like a dream about how I was dreaming that I was lucid... if that makes sense? Well here's my story if it helps:

I'd been stressing about school and having sleep deprivation (4 hours sleep a night for a week). I fell asleep on the bed on my side about 2:30am. I started dreaming and in the dream, I woke up in the same position and did an RC by pinching my nose and it worked, I was lucid. I walked out of my pitch dark room and I was in another house, but it still felt like my house. Everything looked hazy at the start and then things started getting clearer. I couldn't be bothered walking down the stairs (I don't really have stairs) so I thought I'd jump off the rails to see if I could fly and it worked. I flew around the house and I wanted to go outside so I flew out the window. I saw a dog, and a cat who wanted to attack me (cats in my dreams always seem to want to attack me). I got away by flying away from it, but then things started getting hazy again and I tried spinning but I'd lost it.

So was this my first lucid dream? Thanks to anyone who had the time to read this. I'm looking forward to reading and sharing other peoples experiences!