Building the LEGO Camper Van taught me 10 things about life

Nour Shurbaji
2 min readJan 20, 2023

I always passed by LEGO shops with hesitant interest. I have friends who got into it and ended up with many sets. Some people are even certified LEGO professionals! Is it that fulfilling and captivating? Is it worth over-crowding my squeezed living room space?

I have weak resistance to classic VW Beetle car and bus collectables, and LEGO got some really cool jointly-designed models. It only took a post by a 2nd LinkedIn connection- who became a first- to push me to have the LEGO Volkswagen T2 Camper Van delivered to my place in Dubai after the end of year vacation.

The irresistible box =)

Here I list my ten lessons and reflections.

1. The earlier you realize you made a mistake the better is your plan to fix.

2. The earlier you execute on fixing the mistake the easier the restoring tasks become.

3. Having the bigger picture and end-goal in mind help you with the smaller tasks.

4. However, sometimes you’d still feel you do not understand how the task at hand will fit into the bigger picture. Have a leap of faith and trust in the process.

5. Attention to detail is a great skill. Be present and attentive. Do not assume. Do not underestimate.

6. Motivation is one thing and magnitude is another. Do not push with bigger magnitude than what is needed. Things might crumble. Be delicate. Balance is key.

7. If you feel a piece is missing, do not exaggerate lingering on the reason. Whether it was your mistake to lose the piece or LEGO (life) was unfair, it doesn’t matter. Move on. Be creative. Solve it by using another piece.

8. The same things can be created by different pieces in different ways. That’s what we call “different perspectives”.

9. Things will eventually fall into place, in due time.

10. The Little Prince is never wrong. Keep feeding the child in you so you never forget you were a child.

Almost done with the interior!
My first LEGO set built! (January 20 2023)

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