No, I'm no longer an AFOL

This is actually a (somewhat) sad post. This summer, I gave up on one of my most serious hobbies: Lego. I grew up with Lego and, as an adult, I started to collect Lego again. Buying, building, planning, dreaming Lego. Countless hours and, yes, lots of money — after all, Lego is not an inexpensive hobby!

But then, one day, I had enough. I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t do it anymore. Perhaps I took it too far. Maybe that last project — a 12x6ft section for a model railroad exhibit pushed me over the edge. I had started working on that project a few months before the pandemic and continued throughout the pandemic, just waiting for Lego shows and events to start again.

But I never made it to any of the shows. I had taken a fun hobby and turned it into another job, which became too much. It wasn’t fun anymore. So my countless Lego models just sat there, collecting dust, taking up space, constantly reminding me that I should finish building this or that model. But I just couldn’t.

So, a few months ago, I gave it all away! All of it! My neighbor has two sons who are into Lego, and I gave it to them. And now they will never have to buy Lego again. Ever!

It was a fun day, watching them trying to comprehend how much Lego I had and what I had built and them realizing all this was now theirs. It took several hours to carry boxes, models, and tables over to them — it was a crazy amount of Lego! And now it’s gone.

Do I miss it? Not really. Actually, it feels like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders. Being an Adult Fan of Lego (AFOL) was a huge part of my life for a long time. But it’s not anymore, and that’s ok.

The lesson? Do not let something that is fun and manageable grow into something that is no longer fun. I tend to do this lot — I start small but then quickly let it grow to crazy proportions for no other reason than to see if I can do it. But it totally kills the fun.

Going forward, I will keep my hobbies at the “fun-size” level where things are still fun!