When it comes to age, I just feel like puberty is, like, the most horrible time of anyone's life. — Sam Smith

When it comes to age, I just feel like puberty is, like, the most horrible time of anyone's life.

Author: Sam Smith

Insight: Puberty genuinely is its own special kind of hell—your body's rewriting itself without asking permission, your emotions are running a fever, and somehow everyone around you seems to be handling it better than you are. Sam Smith's point resonates because we don't often give ourselves credit for surviving something that legitimately feels catastrophic when you're in it. Adults who complain about their 40s or 50s usually still had their basic shape figured out by then. What's worth noticing is how puberty differs from other hard periods: it's not just one problem, it's everything at once. Your self-image shatters while your voice cracks while you're suddenly hyperaware of how others perceive you. Compare that to a breakup or a job loss—painful, sure, but at least your body isn't actively betraying you during it. Puberty is the one universal crisis where you can't even call an adult and have them fix it because they're usually the source of some of the embarrassment. The surprising part is that Smith isn't entirely wrong, but it's also not always true. Some people look back and think puberty was rough but manageable, while their 20s or 30s actually broke them. What probably matters more than ranking suffering is recognizing that if you're in it now, it's okay that it feels genuinely terrible—and it will actually pass.