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Welcome back to The Bend!
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The Bend follows a simple rhythm each week. The Eddy Line opens with a one-line thought or
observation, something short enough to remember but worth thinking
about. What the Current Pulled Toward dives a
little deeper into where the previous week’s energy went, whether that’s
a project, a partnership, or a personal lesson learned. Signal Fire highlights a person, place, or initiative
that deserves some attention. From the
Field, shares a small anecdote about the broader outdoor
recreation economy from Oxbow’s non-profit arm, the VA
MTNS Outdoor Collective. And One Thought Worth
Sitting With closes things out with a brief reflection or quote
that will hopefully help guide you through whatever you may be dealing
with.
It’s part journal, part field note, and hopefully
something that makes you pause for a moment before diving back into the
current.
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What the Current Pulled Toward
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This week the current pulled toward
perspective.
Last
week, I shared that I’d accepted the position of Assistant County
Administrator with Franklin County. The
announcement itself was exciting but what surprised me was what came
afterward.
Rather than immediately
thinking about what comes next (which is pretty standard for me), I
found myself thinking about where I’ve been instead. I thought about
the people who knew I was ready before I did
and the mentors who challenged me. I even
thought about the not-so-great individuals I’ve worked for and with
along the way (unfortunately, they played a roll, too).
I thought about the mistakes I’d rather not
repeat.
I thought about the wins that felt
enormous at the time and the disappointments that, looking back, weren’t
nearly as permanent as they seemed at the time.
Perspective has a way of doing that. Very few individual moments define a career. They’re simply
points along the path.
I’ve had this
picture saved on my phone for years. It talks about how when a bird is
alive, it eats ants and when it’s dead, ants eat the bird. It talks
about how one tree makes a million matchsticks but only one matchstick
can burn a million trees. Every so often I’ll come across it, read it
again, and move on. This past week, it found me at the right
time.
The message is simple:
circumstances change. That’s true whether
you’re celebrating a promotion, working through a setback, or somewhere
in between. Success has a way of convincing us
we’ve figured everything out, while failure can
make us believe we’ve forgotten everything we know. Usually, neither is true and time
has a way of leveling both.
Looking
back, I’m grateful for every chapter. Well, just about every chapter.
Some were easier than others and there are
some I’d gladly revisit. Others taught me lessons I probably couldn’t have learned
any other way - right, wrong, or indifferent. All of them led here.
And
if this profession has taught me anything over the past 27 years, it’s
that the title beside your name matters a whole lot less than the way
you treat people along the way.
- Mike.
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Before there was Oxbow, VA MTNS, or municipal
leadership, there was Montgomery
County.
It’s where I got my
true start in local government.
Sure, I
learned a lot about parks and recreation - outdoor recreation. special
events, athletics, aquatics, etc. But I also learned budgeting,
purchasing, facility management, maintenance operations, customer
service, and what it takes to keep an organization moving every
day.
Those lessons have stayed with me
throughout my career and looking back, it’s
clear that Montgomery County was doing more than teaching me a
profession. My coworkers and community members were giving me a
foundation and that foundation has served me
well through every role that’s followed.
I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to teach,
encourage, and occasionally let me touch the hot stove and learn the
hard way.
To learn more about Montgomery County, click
here.
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Fishing remains one of Virginia’s biggest outdoor
recreation drivers. According to the Virginia
Department of Wildlife Resources, more than 800,000
anglers fish Virginia’s lakes, rivers, streams, and coastal
waters each year.
Together, they
generate more than $1.3 billion in annual economic
impact across the Commonwealth. That’s
easy to overlook because so much of it happens one cast at a
time.
It happens with a guide booking a
trip or a family stopping at a local tackle
shop. It happens with lunch after a morning on
the river or stopping by the marina to fuel up. All of hose individual decisions add up.
In addition to supporting fish populations through license
sales and conservation funding, fishing supports small businesses, local
jobs, and communities big and small throughout Virginia
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One Thought Worth Sitting With
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This week’s theme: Perspective.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be
lived forwards.“
-Søren Kierkegaard
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