A thing we often forget is that like seeks, and often finds, like. We of the upper bounds of IQ make the mistake of assuming that pretty much everyone we have not met are just like us by and large. Sadly, this is not the case. I had to explain what lucid dreaming is to my own mother for instance. They may understand once you spell it out for them, but they didn't know what it meant just because. I have a memory of a public school teacher when I was but a freshman in high school. He posed several questions to me. What's a Lycanthrope? A Bovine? A Lupine? A Feline? I answered flawlessly, and I shocked him in doing so. This, by the way, in an era before smartphones and broadband internet. I just knew the correct answer long before I conceived of the why. This kind of thing is why I believe I'm an subtype ILI. I had no way of knowing what he was talking about from a logical/concrete standpoint yet I somehow knew the correct answer regardless.
A key thing I almost forgot to mention here, do not fall into the trap of looking down upon those who are "dumber" than you. The "village idiot" can and often will notice something your "big brain' missed and you'd best be able to realize when that happens. I may top my entire family on the IQ front, but I also know that Pride is the deadliest sin. I listen intently to their perspectives, because smart as I may be, I am but a fool before the true lord of all. I may have the biggest brain in the room, but that will only benefit me if I likewise have the smallest ego to compliment it.
For me, it's more concrete. Outright delete the nightmare and you will wake up. You know that fact though, and you wish to continue dreaming. Thus, you simply negate the thing about it that is inspiring fear. Can't kill you if it can't even reach you and even if it can if it can only give you a small jolt of pain by cutting your skin in a way that you've experienced countless times before than it is likewise a negated threat. Dreams occur within the mind, thus whatever happens within that space is only what your mind will allow to happen provided you can lucid dream. Might not want to "max out" that skill though. Fun is to be had in the chaos of merely steering the dream rather than outright dictating it .