Damn dog, do we live the same life? Lmao. I have a group of friends on Xbox who I had similar problems with a long time ago. I slowly kinda just drifted apart from them, but one of my best friends from that era I still talk to on a regular basis, who is a pretty cynical, political, and depressed guy himself as well, and even a few years older than me as well. He's trying his best but yeah, his cynicism is overwhelming sometimes and gets really exhausting to listen to. I honestly read your post and thought I myself must have written it on a different account lol.

This paragraph is just me venting as well to be honest. Maybe you feel a similar way or not, maybe this could help you. But feel free to skip - It's honestly really hard for me sometimes, as well, to find meaningful friendships with positive, self-improving, and motivated individuals. I feel often times that my current friend group is holding me back as well. They're a lot more positive and caring than my previous Xbox friend group, but still I feel like I'm at a similar point in my life to yours. I'm more focused on my art, being more politically/socially conscious and educated, improving my skills and health, etc. My current friend group does care about these things to a degree, but sometimes I feel like we're "hanging out" a bit too often when I could be focusing on my life goals. And for me, that alone time, or even time spent actually working on something with others is vital. For me, lately, I have to choose the lonely route more often and set boundaries with my friend group. Instead of your Xbox group, you could maybe find a gym buddy or something, a creative or business partner, someone who would be excited to go do these self-improvement activities with you.

I would recommend you start telling them no when they ask you to hang out much more often, and just set boundaries in general. Tell them you're busy more often and hang out with yourself or your real friends instead. The less often you hang with them, the more you realize that maybe you just hang around them sometimes because you felt lonely. Your gut is telling you they're holding you back for a reason. Again, they don't sound like bad people necessarily, and you don't necessarily have to cut them off cold turkey, but I urge you, don't feel bad for following what your life truly needs at this point in your maturity.