I remember hearing interviews with WW2 vets where they asked them how could they run into machine gun fire from a small landing craft. The universal answer was that they were so seasick they didn't care if they lived or died, just as long as they got off that boat. I always thought that was BS until that day.
I'll tell you about one experience I had. I was at the beach and it had been storming....
So I started to walk into the water. I won't lie to you, boys, I was terrified! But I pressed on - and as I made my way past the breakers, a strange calm came over me. I don't know if it was divine intervention or the kinship of all living things, but I tell you, Jerry, at that moment - I was a Marine Biologist! ...The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli! I got about fifty feet out and suddenly, the great beast appeared before me. I tell ya, he was ten stories high if he was a foot. As if sensing my presence, he let out a great bellow. I said, "Easy big fella!" And then, as I watched him struggling, I realized that something was obstructing its breathing. From where I was standing I could see directly into the eye of the great fish!