The reason it's not popular is that the early narrative wasn't "too the moon!" The narrative was that Bitcoin was the currency of the future and that we'd all be using Bitcoin for transactions.
Anyone who actually used Bitcoin at the time could see how there was no chance of it taking off as a payment mechanism. That's still true today, especially with $8+ transaction fees.
The difference is that everyone dropped the pretense of actually using bitcoin and instead went all-in on the speculation narrative. People buy it because the price goes up, and the price goes up because people buy it.
Works great until a down cycle, when everyone rushes for the exits and tells themselves they'll buy back in at a lower price.
> All of my friends and family I convinced to buy and hold have been texting me how I changed their lives.
Changed their lives how? By revolutionizing the way they pay for things with cryptocurrency? Or by getting in on an investment that went up?
Be warned that the exact opposite happens when Bitcoin goes back down. Look back at Reddit posts during previous crashes for a reminder: Suicide hotline warnings, stories about people losing half of their retirement, and so on.
If the only redeeming quality of Bitcoin is that the price goes up as more people get in on it, it's hardly different than an MLM or pyramid scheme that relies on a constant influx of new money to keep the show going.