Learn and play principled chess. Chess openings are not about memorizing moves they're about understanding moves. Chess principles include:
1) Controlling center squares
2) Developing pieces
3) Setting up the king to be safe (usually but not always by castling)
By the way your opponents did not do anything obviously wrong or punishable just didn't play the most critical lines.
I have some openings that I know, but many of my opponents does not play the usual lines and instead plays stuff like this