'I am a tough man, I must be brave': Terrified boy's adorable pep talk before blood test

Having blood drawn can be scary for many adults. And this little boy has melted the hearts of millions while trying to show he was not afraid of the medical procedure.

A cute video capturing the child giving himself a prep talk in front of a nurse has gone viral on social media.

The minute-long clip shows the boy, who is absolutely terrified, attempting to stay strong as he assures himself "I am a tough man, I must be brave".

The footage was shared by an entertainment blogger on China's Twitter-like Weibo last Saturday and quickly became popular.

It has so far gathered more than 122,260 "likes" and 28,897 comments.

Filmed at an unspecified location in China, the video shows a number of children queuing up to undergo a blood test.

The boy, wearing a blue and black top, seems teary and scared as the nurse rolls up his sleeve.

But he ensures himself and the nurse his bravery by saying how he did not cry the last time he had his blood drawn at the kindergarten.

At one point, he confessed to the nurse 'I'm so scared' before finding the courage. Photo / Weibo

He says the teacher even awarded him stickers of Ultraman, a Japanese superhero, for that.

While he talks, he keeps putting his hand on his arm in fear and the nurse has to tell him to remove his hands repeatedly.

As the nurse ties a rubber band around his arm, the boy says to himself "I am a tough man" and "I must be brave" while keeping his eyes shut.

He even instructs the nurse where to put in the needle because "this is where I had it done before".

But when the nurse asks him not to block his own arm again, he confesses to her "I am so scared".

When the nurse consoles him by telling him that the two boys ahead of him did not cry, the boy justifies to himself "they are class monitors".

Not long after, he changes his mind and decides to appear courageous again by telling the nurse "but I am the class monitor for the maths subject" and "I can be strong for sure".

As his last request, he asks the nurse if she could complete the procedure within three seconds which the nurse agrees to.

The boy then closes his eyes and counts "one, two, three" before saying proudly "it is done, it did not hurt at all".

The boy's self-encouragement has amused millions in China. Many people find his struggle between "to cry" and "not to cry" irresistibly cute.

One Weibo user "yoioioio" wrote: "This little boy is so sensible. It is clear that he was so scared, but he still tried to talk himself out."

Another user 'wang da chui hen xiao zhang' said: "It reminds me of myself when I was little."

While a third user "ai you wei" joked: "It almost makes me want to have my blood drawn."