Maybe the real treasure were the friends & truth we found along the way
Below are some of my favourite web comics.
The top one was made by the Reza Farazmand who has the site:
What I like about the comics is that they are applicable to D&D, real life and many situations.
The point of hobbies or interests is to enjoy them and the process and not some strange end-goal like being the "best", or "winning", or making money with your hobby. I am rarely trying to compete with anyone really. "The race is long, and in the end, it is only with yourself."
The top comic is funny and sarcastic, yet doing anything with a friend, having a nice chat about it, going on a trip,.. even if the one trip itself is a let-down,.. shared experiences are the thing. In D&D this is even more the case, some of the best and funniest times I ever remember is when things went completely lop-sided, when every character died, when they lost a ton of money or really angered a mob or NPC. It was memorable, almost always more memorable than any time they just succeeded and won.
In real life, obviously losing a lot of money or experiencing true tragedy is awful, yet some moments when I faced hardship or saw something ludicrous happening and I shared that happenstance with a friend, or when I was super embarrassed but took it in stride. Those are the types of things I laugh at, again, with my friends, sometimes years later. It creates a bond, to have a shared memory, a language, meme or joke that endures and that anyone who was not there, would not understand. I tend to befriend some people by mutual aid as well as by sharing horrible memes or saying outrageous things, purely to make one another laugh. There is never any malice and almost never any actual negativity.
Juxtapose that with angry Facebook rants, indeed people generally don't like reading those and even if they do, it is not doing them or anyone any good the vast majority of the time. Long ago, I had Facebook, and at times I would rant. I don't know if I ever changed anyone's mind about even a single topic that I was vehemently arguing in favour of, or against. While at the same time it certainly was off-putting to some, or it just created unhelpful interactions, division or distance.
Having a real-time or even spaced out conversation on a messaging app, with a person you really like, will always feel and be more real than getting likes from even people you know, nevermind upvotes from strangers on social media.
Even better if that conversation can happen while you share a hobby, activity and a drink or meal, face to face, without any screens.
Instead of feeling alone together, sharing the journey with friends, is priceless, the real treasure.