Kelly Borenstein goes through her wardrobe every spring, throwing out old duds and making room for this season’s finds. But this year, she found more than the romper that rides up a little too high: she stumbled upon her true self.
“I was halfway through my t-shirt drawer, when this sudden wave of freedom washed over me,” the 32-year-old explained.
For years, the young professional had been living a life she thought was her own; waking up, going to Cardio Fit, or Afro-Beatz if it was Wednesday, drinking a green juice, putting in a full day at her job in Human Resources, then binge drinking with friends after work. But on Sunday, she woke up with a foreboding sense of emptiness she’d never felt before. “I was like, ‘ew’,” she said of the ominous feeling.
Two hours later, while deciding whether to keep a pilling, old Michigan State Warriors t-shirt, Ms. Borenstein suddenly realized her whole life was a lie. “The truth is, I don’t care about other people’s benefits and I hate arranging employee birthdays,” she admitted. “I JUST WANT TO DANCE.”
Since her liberating flash of inspiration, Ms. Borenstein has quit her job at Emigrant Bank, broken up with her “nice, but kinda meh” boyfriend Kilim, and is working on starting a dance troupe for women like her, who are too old to break into the professional scene, but too passionate to let their dreams die. She plans on calling it Out of the Closet.
