I Was a City Boy. Escaping Into Nature Changed My Life.

This story is part of our ongoing “First Steps” series, where we share extraordinary stories of men who transformed their bodies, minds, and lives with a focus on the first steps it took them to get there (because, after all, nothing can change without a first step!). Read all of the stories here.

Below, Nelson Holland, 33, who posts on Instagram and Tik Tok under the handle @fatblackandgettinit, shares the first steps he took in discovering and embracing a new hobby, which helped him discover his passion for helping others find a love of nature.

ABOUT TEN YEARS ago, I was living in Far Rockaway, New York. I was going to school at Brooklyn College. I dislocated my ankle, and was on crutches navigating public transit for up to 2 and a half hours just to get to class. I wasn’t enjoying it. Then, Hurricane Sandy hit hard. The week after that, my grandfather who I lived with at the time passed away. Everything was hitting at once. I needed a change. I needed to go.

I found a job with FedEx that allowed you to relocate wherever you wanted, to tons of different locations. I had a friend living in Colorado at the time, and he convinced me to make that my first stop. Most of my family and friends were confused, especially since it meant dropping out of college. Both my parents are teachers, so college had always been a non-negotiable. Luckily, my dad saw me as mature enough to make this kind of decision. Everyone else was like, “why would you leave New York and go to this place in the middle of the country where only white people exist?”

Seeing the Rocky Mountains as I flew into Denver for the first time quite literally changed my life. I’m from the city—I’d never seen anything like it. It felt like when I was a kid watching National Geographic. At the time, it was still just a picture to me. It would take a few months before I realized that was an area you’re actually able to go to.

The first step to discovering my love for nature involved embracing my curiosity, asking questions, and not being afraid to explore. Where I worked was right next to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, which is the largest urban wildlife refuge in the nation. There are about 2srcsrc bison there. I’d never seen a bison before. I asked a friend about it, and they took me out there for the first time. It was mesmerizing. As soon as I got a car, I started going weekly. It got to the point where I knew the bison’s schedule. I would park out where I knew they were going to be, and just sit there and watch the family stampede around me.

After seeing that, I knew I had a love for wildlife. I never knew that about myself as a kid. As a New Yorker, I didn’t have access to that stuff. Once a friend of mine discovered how much I liked the Arsenal, he told me to go up to a town called Estes Park to look at the elk that roam around people’s homes. I thought he was playing me. I never knew there were places where animals like that would just roam on people’s property. I went, and saw a huge swarm of over 3src of them just walking around my car.

I bought my National Parks pass that day. I went to Rocky Mountain National Park 5src times in the next two years. I started hiking with some friends who knew the area, and then started venturing into new places. Every time, I was so impressed with the beauty of it all.

When I first started posting to Instagram, I did it just to show my family all the stuff I was doing. It was a way to tell them: “look at these things that you’ve never seen before.” I really wanted my family to see the beauty of nature, and show them that this is why I came to Colorado.

I also wanted to show people that you can do these things even if you’re not considered the norm. I don’t like to use the term ‘plus-sized,’ but there are a lot of people out there that aren’t considered the norm who think they’re not able to hike or go experience nature because of it. As someone who represents a different body size, I think people feel like they can relate to me more. And they can think to themselves, “oh, if he can do this, maybe I can, too.”

It’s become my new passion to bring people out into nature who might not otherwise be there. There’s nothing more joyful than seeing somebody turn into a nature lover for the first time. It doesn’t matter if they get there hiking, whitewater rafting, or camping. It’s just important to find the thing that gets them outside.

I recently took a group of students from an inner city high school in Denver hiking a little ways outside of the city, and provided them with gear. It was predominantly, if not all, Black and brown students. Many had never really left the city before. It was incredible to watch them experience it for the first time. It’s the kind of thing you think about on a bad day and it makes you smile. It’s why I still create content and get out there. I feel like I’ve carved out my own way to help the world by leading people out into nature. Hopefully I can help more people join the fight to take care of the Earth and its wildlife.

Having a new hobby gave me new goals, too. I’d love to summit higher and harder mountains. Maybe learn how to do more climbing. I’m not a rock climber, but to summit those kinds of mountains you have to have certain skills. I’m learning how to ski now, too. There’s always something new to experience outside.