A Life Less Organized: Chatting with Regina Leeds, The Zen Organizer

Ten years after her friend Jonathon Winters said, “You have to make your neuroses pay,” Regina began using her skill of organizing to help people keep their lives manageable and their self esteem high.

Regina, I figured out quickly, was a kind of organizational therapist who had an answer to the emotional payoff we get by living in chaos.

“Sometimes we set up things subconsciously to be as difficult as possible because on some level we feel more virtuous having finally completed the task," she said, "keeping organized is not just about having order, it is a way to express healthy self-love and self esteem, it’s a gift you give yourself”.

I was hesitant before my sit down interview with one of Toluca Lakes most awesome residents, Regina Leeds, master organizer and the author of the One Year to an Organized (…) book Series. In this case, her latest book, One Year to an Organized Life with Baby. Uh oh. Organized? Me?

I was determined to get this place in shape before the baby came. As soon as I finished my last semester of school, I started in on my dream nursery … but just as soon as I dumped a huge pile of baby clothes in the middle of the room to be categorized and put away … I went into pre-term labor. So, that was that. We had a preemie, a mom recovering from 5 days of labor, a c-section and nine total days in the hospital, a dad overcome with frustration from terrible nurses and a confused dog. That pile got shoved into the bottom of the closet … and stayed there for three months. Then again, the house wasn’t really organized before … So I guess I just stretched the truth. Why do we justify our mess?

No matter the reason that you’ve given yourself, Regina says “Fear is the number one reason that people are not organized.” I didn’t even need to think about it twice. I can’t concentrate if the house is a mess, and I don’t have the time to organize, and if I did organize I would actually have to face my fear of the looming project. Disarray becomes a means of not facing your fears in life.

 So why else do people leave clutter? Regina asked one of her clients why she would want to have to search for something when it could just go back to the same place each time. She explained that it is a kind of high. “Searching for something is like the thrill of the hunt. If it’s organized, you take the thrill away.”

Now I can say for certain that I hate the “thrill” of having to search for something. Matter of fact it drives me crazy when my husband doesn’t put the keys back on the hook … despite repeated requests. However the idea of self-sabotage that I can create within my home is one I can definitely relate to.

I asked Regina how she came up with her new book and what mothers had to gain from reading it. She replied simply, “Do you want to spend your time looking for stuff? Or do you want to spend your time with your child?”

Come back next week when Regina makes a visit to my home. Maybe I’ll be brave and post some pictures!