In her new book, “Corporate Rehab: Ditch the Hustle Culture and Thrive Again,” author Jenny Blumenthal shares the stories of more than three hundred women who finally decided to leave their toxic corporate culture for a more balanced life. Blumental said she was inspired by her own experiences to write this book. "I spent 20 years in corporate America and I climbed to the top of the ladder. And on the way, really experienced my own hustle culture. As I looked to get out of corporate America and do something different, I really wanted to look back and understand what kept me trapped so long," she said. Her research showed her hustle culture was to blame. Blumental was not alone in the re-evaluation of her career and mental health, as the pandemic caused many people to introspect. She recognized the pandemic as an important factor in the change that occurred in the professional space. "I think that's really what shone a big spotlight on some of the things in our lives that we had added over time that we no longer wanted to do or things that gave us a chance to say, 'I want more life in my life when the world stopped,'" Blumenthal said. She said the pandemic gave us a chance to pause, reflect and answer questions we didn't have time to think about prior. But the hustle culture has more than just societal effects. Blumenthal said it is affecting people on a physical level. She considers hustle culture to be addiction. "What's really happening is our nervous system is craving, at a cellular level, this constant pace and it's that we've become addicted to because it's familiar. But that doesn't mean it's good for us," she said. "And so just like anything else, giving us a chance to kind of pause and reset that a little bit and deciding consciously what pace you want to live at is really part of what's required." Blumenthal outlined her own personal process of recovering from hustle culture, which appropriately comes from the acronym REHAB: Recognize your story Evaluate your life Heal your mind, body, spirit Arise and grow into new skills and capabilities Build a new version of your life and career As the conversation shifts towards younger generations, Blumenthal emphasized how important it is that young people prioritize a work-life balance. "I think we're seeing our mothers and grandmothers that fought for a chance for us to be at the table... they needed that grit and they needed that ambition and they had to fight for that," Blumenthal said. "But you see younger generations saying, 'I see that life and I don't want it.' So my hope really is that we can, across this different multigenerational workforce, bring people together to say, 'What can we do to apply that grit and ambition towards the world's toughest problems?'" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KING 5's New Day Northwest is Western Washington's only local daytime talk show. Watch it weekdays at 11 a.m. PST on KING 5 TV and streaming live on http://www.king5.com. #newdaynw 🢒 Follow New Day Northwest! 🢐 FACEBOOK 🢒 https://www.facebook.com/newdaynw TWITTER 🢒 https://twitter.com/newdaynw INSTAGRAM 🢒 https://www.instagram.com/newdaynw