Research suggests that many of us begin to be aware of emotions like shame and embarrassment from around 18 months old. That leaves many, many years of our life to suffer through the rollercoasters of personal humiliation and interpersonal cringe. 

Kind of like eating really spicy food, the desire to cringe at others can increase with age and exposure. It also becomes weirdly enjoyable, despite the pain that it puts us through. 

Perhaps this is because as we get older, we can relate more to the impulses that encourage people to be cringeworthy — even if we completely disagree with the execution. We’re all trying to figure out the complications of life, and that is never embarrassment-free. 

Nonetheless, some of us dig some very deep and unnecessary holes in the name of trying to find that elusive happiness. It shouldn’t be this difficult, but then we wouldn’t have anything to cringe at.