The world can be scary when you’re a child – whether that’s because of spiders, clowns, or, in RJ Hamp’s case, diving boards.
A video of the three-year-old boy shaking with fear at the end of the board went viral two years ago – RJ was so scared of jumping in that his whole body shook uncontrollably.
Here’s that video, shared by his proud firefighter father:
Now, RJ has got over his wobbles and, while he might still be a little hesitant coming off the board, he’s nailed his dive.
His dad shared the old video of his son petrified of jumping on Twitter, followed by a more recent video. “This is what overcoming fear looks like!” he wrote.
And RJ is even able to jump in on how own without his dad being in the water.
Everyone is little RJ in their own way. We’ve all got things we want to do that seem so scary we just can’t bring ourselves to do them – and unlike in RJ’s case, they don’t even involve putting our young bodies at the whim of gravity.
Like RJ’s eventual decision to jump, nobody’s life should be defined by the things they couldn’t bring themselves to do.
RJ isn’t the scared kid on the diving board anymore. He’s a swimmer.