I suppose that is true, although I've certainly been in a lot more high-stress situations than I've been in life-threatening situations, and I expect that the same goes for most people on this forum. But then again, I don't think that was necessarily the point you were trying to make. I didn't mean to downplay the difficulty of coping high stress situations-- it's legitimately hard. But practice is the best way to increase your likelihood of not-dying.

For example, when I was taking martial arts, I was told that the best thing you can do if you actually want to be able to defend yourself is to drill your basic punches and kicks. The idea being that if you get into an actual fight, you are so comfortable with your moves that you'll be able to execute them, despite the fact that your higher reasoning centers are all going FUCKFUCKFUCKIMUNDERATTACK.

Same principle applies in other areas. You increase your chances of success by training a couple of behaviors or thought patterns until they come so naturally that they will happen even when your brain goes into panic mode.