The flat of plump purple fruit stares at me from its inclined position on the familiar shelves of Harvest Wagon in Toronto’s tony Rosedale neighbourhood. It wasn’t there yesterday and seems to have appeared out of nowhere, exotic-looking and vaguely suggestive. Within seconds though I’ve come up with several reasons why it will never be mine: cost ($5 each!), practicality (it would get crushed before I got it home), and intimidation (how does one eat a fig?).

My next door neighbour stands in his doorway with a proud grin on his face while my two youngest sons put on their shoes. I’ve come to take them home, where their older brother, their father and an oven-roasted fish supper are waiting.

The winter storm caught us completely off guard. We’d taken the York Region Transit and then the subway into Toronto the day before and had spent the night at my brother’s house. It had been a mild winter’s day and we’d worn our winter jackets, of course; but there had been no need for boots, mittens or hats.

So your job is wearing you down. The workload, that difficult co-worker, management’s lack of respect for your time and intelligence. And what’s worse is you’re too exhausted to enjoy your evenings and weekends. Besides, by the time you finish the grocery shopping, the cooking, the housework; the kids’ homework and shuttling them to their various activities, it’s time to go back to the office.

Surely you’ve heard the phrase work life balance so many times you no longer know exactly what it means. The tension between our work and our personal lives is always going to be there; and those in pursuit of “balance” are often chronically disappointed. Since our personal lives are often further divided between household responsibilities, family and personal care, it’s no surprise so many of us are feeling stretched.

It took me 7 months away from my full time job to build habits into my daily routine which keep me “Zen.” Let me share with you my five most valuable strategies which you can implement right away, so that you don’t have to take a leave of absence from your job. Unless you want to, of course!

If you’re sensitive to others’ emotions like me; if you’re a people-pleaser, chances are you feel extremely uncomfortable when you face even the mildest form of pushback from someone.