ISSUE 45, 29 September 2026

Welcome back to The Bend!

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.

Author’s note: the views, opinions, and observations expressed in The Bend are my own and do not represent any employer, public agency, organization, or individual. Where applicable, they reflect only my work through Oxbow Strategies and the VA MTNS Outdoor Collective.

The Eddy Line

“You don’t have to know exactly where you’re going to take the next step.”

What the Current Pulled Toward

This week the current pulled toward uncertainty.

I have a good friend I’ve known for more than 35 years. Somewhere around middle school, he decided he wanted to teach history and coach football and that’s pretty much what he did. He taught history and coached football for more than two decades and is now a school administrator. There’s something pretty impressive about knowing that early what you want your life to look like and then sticking with it.

I, on the other hand, was not that kid. At various points, I thought I might be a lawyer, a professional football player, and probably a few other things I’ve forgotten. I loved football, although I was actually better at basketball. Not that either was going to become a career.I really didn’t find parks and recreation until I was about halfway through my time at Virginia Tech. Looking back, it feels like a pretty important turn but at the time, it was just the next turn. We put a lot of pressure on young people to have answers early. Pick a school then pick a major then pick a career. Start building toward a future you are supposed to somehow understand before you’ve lived enough life to know what fits.

Some folks do know, while others take longer, and some people think they know, only to discover years later that the plan no longer fits the person they’ve become. Priorities change, families grow, and opportunities appear that you absolutely couldn’t have planned for. In some instances, you end up finding a completely different use for skills you already had.

At 47, I can draw a fairly logical line through parks and recreation, local government, trails, economic development, consulting, and the outdoor economy.I certainly could not have drawn it in college and, if I’m being completely honest, I highly doubt I could’ve drawn it ten years ago. I think that’s probably the part worth remembering.

Having direction helps. Being curious and working hard helps, too. But having every answer ahead of time is absolutely unnecessary. There’s plenty of room to adapt, change your mind, and figure out the next part when you get there.

- Mike.

Signal Fire

Career services oftentimes get associated primarily with someone looking for their first job or trying to get back into the workforce.The reality, though, is considerably broader. Virginia Works specifically serves people exploring their next career, considering a career change, returning to work or trying to develop new skills. Its services include career counseling, résumé assistance, job-search support, training opportunities, registered apprenticeships and connections to employers, all available to job seekers at no cost.

There is a Virginia Works center right here in Roanoke serving the greater region, including the cities of Roanoke and Salem, and the counties of Botetourt, Craig, and Franklin County. Virginia is also putting new attention on mid-career transitions. This summer, Virginia Works convened a Career Transition and Advancement Advisory Team specifically to examine how the workforce system can better serve people navigating change, including mid-career workers responding to a changing economy. I really like that acknowledgment.

Sometimes the person who needs career guidance is 18. Sometimes they’re 48. Neither one is behind. They’re both just trying to figure out what comes next.

From the Field

One of the things I appreciate about the outdoor economy is just how many ways there are to find your way into it. The person working in the industry doesn’t necessarily have a degree in outdoor recreation. They may be an accountant for an outdoor manufacturer. A welder building bike racks. A marketing professional working for an outfitter. A planner developing trails. A hospitality worker in a gateway community. A mechanic at a bike shop. An engineer designing gear (ha, that rhymes). A guide who left an entirely different profession because spending another decade behind a desk no longer sounded appealing.

The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable describes a national outdoor recreation economy supporting 5.2 million American workers, and its workforce work specifically emphasizes the wide variety of career pathways within the industry.

The Outdoor Industry Association has also identified an opportunity for outdoor companies to recruit people from nontraditional career paths, while helping existing employees develop new skills and move into different roles.

The outdoor economy is can be pictured as a collection of guides, bike shops, and gear companies but it’s much, much wider than that. And for someone trying to figure out their next chapter, that breadth creates real opportunity. The really cool thing about that is to get involved, you don’t necessarily have to start over, just bring what you already know to somewhere new.

One Thought Worth Sitting With

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

- Søren Kierkegaard