Hang in there! I highly recommend using something like https://lemmyverse.net/communities to search for communities. Lemmy (and most other parts of the fediverse) are a double-edged sword: you’re not being algorithmically fed content, so you’re able consciously curate what you devote your attention to, you’re not being surveilled for marketing, etc. However, because of this, it’s harder to accidentally find an interesting community because they’re not actively presented to you.
I just started using the search above to type in keywords of interest. I’ve found some established Lemmy communities I don’t think I would have stumbled across otherwise.
I related to this article a lot. It’s the same sentiment of this classic Family Guy clip: The game is Euchre (YouTube Link)
I like the idea of everyone sitting around a table, effortlessly playing a game and having a great time—but adult friendships are tough. When you get to hang out for an hour here, two hours there, every few-to-several weeks or months, investing an hour or more into learning the rules of a game that may or may not be fun is a tall order.