This post is for all the new dreamers that have recently joined us. LD’s take time, and a lot of people give up very quickly once the don’t have immediate satisfaction. Of course, experiences LD’ers may also get a few things out of this. I should be clear, this topic is not about how to get LD’s, but how to not give up on LD’s.
After being here for almost a year, I noticed that a lot of new dreamers only last for a few weeks (if even that long). It’s been something I’ve been thinking on for a while. What is it that makes LD’s lose their allure?
The best thing I can figure is that the amount of work (percieved or spent) is higher than the dreamer was willing to do. Mind you, a lot of them have created a good chunk of this extra work by trying to tackle some of the most difficult techniques out there. WILD seems to be a big killer, mainly because it requires a lot of personalization but the noobs don’t know it. Perhaps it’s the fact that when you read tutorials and FAQ’s it all seems so cut and dry, but in practice it’s a bit more difficult.
But I think the main thing is unreasonable expectations. How many posts are in the Quest for Lucidity right now that say things like “I’ve been trying WILD for a whole week and I haven’t had an LD, what am I doing wrong?” It can take time to find the right sort of incubation, but most people don’t realize that. It seems that they are looking for the easy way out. WBTB sounds like a pain, MILD just sounds like a placebo, its hard to remember to RC, etc. Ah, but WILD is big and shiny and fun and will give me LD’s whenever I want. Sadly, the method described in most tutorials usually has to be adapted for the user, and it varies from person to person.
The other thing is also that the focus on techniques themselves, not the end result. As an example, many new dreamers get caught up on doing WILD “correctly.” They want to say the “correct” mantra. They are afraid of skipping steps, changing things, getting things going. But, they end up only learning a technique. A technique is good, but what’s the point if there’s not purpose to it?
“But Rhewin, if I do the technique corretly, won’t I get LD’s?”
Good question, disembodied voice. Not necessarily. If the focus isn’t on having a dream where you realize you are dreaming (i.e., an LD) then those techniques won’t get you anywhere. What’s the point of laying in bed watching pretty images if your goal is to see HI and not go in to your dream? What’s the point of saying “tonight, I will have a lucid dream,” if it’s only empty words?
So how do new dreamers get around this dreaming wall? How do they keep their interest? Well, I have several suggestions.
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Set a reasonable goal; you may not have an LD for quite some time. Don’t pressure yourself, you’ll just add stress that could prevent LD’s.
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Don’t do WILD every single time you go to sleep. If you are going to do it, do it 5-6 hours after first going to bed when you’ll enter REM immediately. The beginning of the night will only frustrate you and keep you awake. I would go so far to say don’t even try WILD until you get some experience with inducing LD’s, but it is a very good technique to know once you get it working.
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Stay with only a few techniques a time. As I said before, these techs need personalization. You’ll never figure out what works if you keep changing from WILD to VILD to HILD to FILD to CALD to M-WILD. Give it a couple of weeks per tech, and adjust it to fit your needs. (This is not to limit yourself on what techs you know, but to get good experience with each one)
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Enter challenges like the LC or the Archangel’s Challenge to keep your motivation up. These give you tasks that can be completed in ND’s as well as LD’s. At least you’ll keep your focus up, and you’ll be paying more attention to your dreams.
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Enjoy your ND’s. True, lucidity is amazing, but ND’s take place in the same dream world, and can be just as exciting. Don’t wake up and say “dang it, no LD.” Instead, think about how awesome and/or realistic that last dream was.
There are many more things I want to say, but I don’t want to turn this into a topic on how to do different techniques properly. We have a FAQ’s and Tutorials section for that. Remember, don’t give up just because you feel you aren’t making progress. All of us have felt that way. The difference between someone who can LD and someone who can’t is that the one who can didn’t call it quits. LD’s are only as hard as you make them, so what’s it going to be for you?
I’d like to hear from you guys. What kind of goals are you setting (or set when you first started)? Are there other things making you lose motivation that I haven’t discussed? Are there any experienced dreamers who would like to add something?
Anywho, I hoped this helped. Remember, there’s a community of dreamers here to help you 
, and I like it, because you make some very important things very clear. Just like you said, almost every new dreamer try to WILD. And I don’t get it. They don’t have DJ, no any recall and they want have LD’s. And I hate it when somebody says that he tried every technique in a week and that he can’t be lucid.
Although I don’t call them Normal Dream anymore, I call them Non-lucid Dream 
. I just hope this helps some new dreamers.
haha wall of text. Im sorry.
(don’t know why this smilie, but it felt right)