I still have braces atm, the only stuff that sucks is rubber bands. If you have to get them at some point I suggest starting them over a weekend so the initial pain is out of the way, it took 2 to 3ish days for the pain to subside and then they felt normal.
Braces kinda suck when you're eating something that has bread like a burger or hot dog, but I do it anyways and then just go brush my teeth cause I can't stand all that stuff stuck in my teeth. Other than that I eat basically everything like I used to and it's been fine.