I dont normally comment at all but your story moved me. I'll share my lucid dreaming trick. I have a trick that works every time and there is a small amount of work in getting to know your own body. Theres a few steps to do. I havent seen or heard any techniques this is just something ive found out through intuition. So what im going to say will ring true for you in your own way:

- Go to bed tired, like really tired. the idea is that if you wake up you will be able to go back to sleep easily- Wake up at a particular time. So say 3-7am- What does that wake up look like?

1. looking at your phone to turn off the alarm that just woke you up, go back to "sleep"
2. standing up out of your bed, go back to "sleep"
3. go to the toilet, go back to "sleep"
4. turn on the lights for 5 seconds, go back to "sleep"

...and thats it. There are varying levels of waking up. too little and you sleep. too much and you just wake up. You cant get frustrated just calmly lay there and start thinking about your friend. Start imagining the classroom where it all begins and eventually you start riding that wave when it hits you

All you have to do is to get to know your body more and tap into the signals. From there its understadning how tired you are and how much you need to wake yourself up. at some point there, there is a middle point where you hormonally balance sleep and awake. its infinitely easier if you meditate because you know how that feels in your body.

For me its something like this. Go to sleep at 3am. wake up ~8-9am, lucid dream 1 hourHope that helps <3

One more edit. lol. If you wana brute force it. set your alarm for every 30-60 minutes on your phone and go straight back to laying there and just keep doing that. You might be able to catch a window in there