Funny, I was just having a conversation yesterday with my boyfriend about this particular topic.
After walking through a small forest on the island of Reunion, we finally arrived at the waterfall we had been searching for. There, at the top of a very steep drop, stood 2 boys getting ready to jump. I would say they were standing at least 10m above the surface of the water.
The first one seemed to have no problem getting over his fears, and even dove in head first! Had he done the jump before? Had he watched his friends do it a few times first? How had he convinced his mind and natural instincts to fight the thoughts of simply not wanting to die?

When it came to his friend's turn, it was a completely different story. The young boy stood at the edge of the big jump, his mind oscillating between jumping and running away, staring at the long way down. Everyone stood watching him and observing the struggle. A small movement to the edge as if he had conquered his fear and was ready, and a step back to safety - we stood watching him for at least 20 minutes. He never jumped. It was as though the more he thought of it, the more he tried to process the insanity of what he was about to do, the bigger the fear grew.
I couldn't help but think about how healthy it was to have these fears and how important it is for humans to experience these and push themselves to the limit at an early age.
Anyway, big ramble but I thought I'd share! Here is a photo of the first boy diving in and the following boys at the top waiting for their turn (hope you can see them):