Had a Lucid-type Dream Last Night

I don't know if this will be interesting to anyone, but...
Dreams are often most interesting to the person that had them. Regardless, I remember the end of the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" where the female lead character deduced that since Freddy was only in her dreams, he could be defeated by making herself aware of him being fictional while she was dreaming.
Having stated that....
I had a dream once that I was being chased while on foot. Some sort of monster was gaining on me when I suddenly realized that I was dreaming. I slowed down and stopped running and turned around to see the monster quickly disappear. This was about 20 years ago. Sometimes since then I've been dreaming, involved in absurd situations, silly, dangerous, etc...and suddenly realized that it wasn't real. From there it has gone a few different ways. Sometimes I've been able to steer a situation my way, others I've fought and fought only to get nowhere.
In the last few years, I've had several where the situations change but a common theme is shared with all of them: I am in some place or situation where I need to get somewhere or someplace and obstacles keep getting in my way. I know that this means something to those that analyze dreams. Sometimes I wise up in those dreams and quit fighting the obstacles, then the dream ends or changes to something else.
The human mind is a very complicated thing.