A hobby shared with a friend gains company and risks becoming a comparison.

Doing something alongside a friend adds most of what makes a pastime last: someone to talk to about it, someone who cares how it went. It also quietly introduces a scoreboard nobody agreed to keep. Once there is a second person’s progress in view, your own stops being yours and starts having a position relative to theirs. The interest survives that, but the pleasure thins if the comparison is never named.

Say it out loud early if you notice it starting. A friend who hears that you are measuring yourself against them will usually help you stop, and the shared part can go back to being the good part.