A Day in the Life of Carly Buehler: Quarantine Edition

Despite the emotional rollercoaster accompanying the coronavirus pandemic, we are gaining perspective of what was overlooked in the busyness of life before COVID-19.  The things we are missing right now are not always actual things; we miss our people, our places and our experiences.  

A casual picture of Carly Buehler … upside down, of course.

It has become the reality of 2020 that life will be measured according to “pre-coronavirus pandemic” and “post-coronavirus pandemic.” And for many Americans, life before the coronavirus was busy, interactions with one another were frequent, and as for distractions, well, people could not afford to waste time on distractions from whatever the task at hand was. Now, mid-coronavirus pandemic, the most powerful tools for emotional, mental and physical well-being are what was overlooked in life before: distractions, transparency, and Zoom, as detailed by Carly Buehler of North Carolina. 

Carly Buehler is the coordinator of Campus Recreation and Wellness for Fitness and Aquatics at Elon University, with the side hustle of coaching at OrangeTheory Fitness. 

She thrives on a rigorous lifestyle: normally teaching at OrangeTheory Fitness multiple times a week, working alongside staff and students at Elon, while also juggling two dogs and a husband. You can imagine it was quite the challenge to transition to life in quarantine and “adjusting the whole house to feel like we are working from home,” she said, because ‘home’ had its own attributes: letting the dogs out, doing laundry, and so on. 

As her home became her place of work and she realized the characteristics of ‘home’ were going to change, she came to the realization that home life and work life can still remain separate. “I can still take a lunch break like at work, or not change the laundry immediately after it dings,” she said. The challenge could have been harder, she said, acknowledging that many households are busier than her own, and the switch of her surroundings and work environment has been a positive facet of the coronavirus impact. 

What else has worked well for Carly is spending time outside. Whether she is walking, exercising or doing office-work, the outdoors provide a pleasant and accessible environment with the opportunity to do things like tan, she said. 

Another feature working well for Carly developed through a collaboration with another coach from OrangeTheory Fitness. The pair have taken it upon themselves to create and maintain regular exercise opportunities, like group fitness classes, through Zoom and a private Facebook group. 

Carly posing alongside her colleagues after a social-distanced workout.

Of course, it is different, she said, “I miss hugging people before class. It is instinct and connection.” But the people taking their virtual classes express genuine gratitude and appreciation for having someone on the other side of the screen sharing in something real. 

Zoom has proven itself to be powerful during this time. A few months ago, a group exercise class over Zoom was laughable. But now, a group exercise class over Zoom is a priority, at least for Carly. 

One’s priorities at this point in time are abnormal, given what is going on in the world. Similarly, emotions and physical health are different, too, making every day different but not consistently good or bad. “It ebbs and flows,” Carly said. 

A powerful tool Carly uses to manage her own rollercoaster of emotions during this time is transparency; “recognizing maybe today was a low day, but yesterday was a high day and it just kind of happens,” she said. 

Energy dips, then lifts, according to Carly. And people right now, especially extroverts, which Carly considers herself to be, are not used to or comfortable with the down time. Extroverts are finding it a struggle “figuring out how we’re supposed to react to something, and we’re not used to reacting negatively,” Carly said. 

Carly turns to social media, like Instagram, to be transparent about her feelings. And as it turns out, her transparency is not only emotionally cathartic, but many others have texted her about the relevancy her words have in their own lives and share how they are emotionally and mentally collapsing at times. But, because of her post, they also feel less alone on their rollercoasters of emotions. 

”It is important for people to understand that it is OK to feel some type of way and know, ‘I am here now,’ and that is OK.” — Carly Buehler

Giving yourself the grace to feel does not always happen in the moment, but it is still worth it to give yourself grace after whatever thoughts or emotions were experienced rather than none at all. “It is OK to feel feelings and be better later on for it,” Carly said. 

She has learned that her imperfection is something to personally admit, recognize and communicate because, despite how lonely it may feel on the inside, others are right there too. Her vulnerable posts have resulted in a solid, communal response of support and acceptance. 

She realized a perspective that was overlooked during the busyness of life pre-coronavirus: we take human interaction for granted. 

“The things that we are missing the most right now, are generally not things,” she said. “We are not missing a computer, we’re not missing a car. We’re missing something very human. I guess that has been there all along, but we’re realizing it now.”

Carly taking time to enjoy the little things that mean the most — like petting one of her cute dogs.

We will look back on this time and realize we have gained the ability to recognize when it’s the right time to slow down and stop living at full-speed, she said. We will instinctively know, “I need to slow down because this is not best for my health mentally, or physically,” Carly said. 

So, what is the “new-normal” life for extroverted, fast-paced Carly? It looks something like this: 

Wake-up (sometimes before 6 a.m., and sometimes later into the morning):

Maybe she will walk her two dogs if there is time, then get started on work. She makes sure to take several intermissions to get out of her chair and walk around, breaking up her focus periods.

Midday:

It is time for lunch, and laundry. Laundry seems to be a priority in her daily schedule. 

Afternoon:

Her exercise sessions remain in the afternoon to resemble her life before the coronavirus: go to work, exercise, make dinner, go to bed. Sometimes she exercises independently and other times she is instructing group fitness classes over Zoom. 

Now, Carly and her colleague are in the groove of hosting Zoom classes, and the family and friends who take the classes are incredibly appreciative of it. 

She feels her workouts are better and more effective because of the time and variety she can include now. Instead of only weightlifting and instructing OrangeTheory classes, she is incorporating yoga, running, and HIIT.

Evening:

Dinner and bed. There is no definite end to the general “workday” now, so Carly and her husband try to do what would have been normal in the evenings pre-quarantine, which included making dinner, watching Netflix and relaxing.