Growing up we barely seasoned food and now I was getting to point were I was getting bored with food, so I started buying black pepper, paprika and chili peppers to experiment and it changed me.
For me, it's not about the burn/numbness (the first two barely give you any sort of kick anyways), but instead it's about the flavour they add that I had never tasted. It's that flavour that enhances the food, not the hotness. I have no interest is using artificially hot sauces for the gimmick.
A few years earlier I ate a chili hamburger out of curiosity and two bites into it my lips were absolutely numb, it was ridiculous. It wasn't painfull, but it wasn't pleasing either and it kept me out of "hot" food for a long while.
So it's not solely about "stubbing your toe on purpose" or stepping on a Lego, but it can also be about experiencing new things like walking on freshly cut grass or wet sand.