Is it normal to fear falling asleep?

I don't literally lie in bed shaking, but I find myself trying to catch myself falling asleep.

I can never pinpoint that exact second I fall asleep, and that uncertainty scares me a little. To me it's a little like playing Russian Roulette, except I don't fear death in my sleep, but just the random black out that will eventually hit you while laying there.

My dreams are a little odd too, with my dead mother usually being involved, ex girlfriend, or friends of my past being present.

My waking life feels a lot more like a questionable dream than these dreams themselves - so facing these events and ghosts of my past in such a lucid state causes me to despise facing inevitable sleep even more. Is it normal?