Mason Branstrator’s work

  Last night I had the most wonderful talk with my uncle. It had been 2 years and one spinal cord injury since the last time I saw him. A lot had changed. His face lit up as he entered the room, he gave me a big hug and immediately sat down and started in on a conversation with me. After praising me for my attitude and strength he asked me the question every adult asked me during this time in my life. “What are you thinking about studying?” When I responed “I’ve been told I shouldn’t major in philosophy” he immediately responded, “been told?, what do you mean by that” he explained that this was the time in my life that I decided. And that everything I thought I knew about the profession I wanted to be a part of, would change when I started to dig a little deeper anyway.  We talked about everything meaningful under the sun and I was beaming with joy taking in everything he had to say. It is these deep conversations that I used to start with the people around me, but somehow I l...

When people ask me if I’m religious, I respond “yes but, I believe….” this is because often I feel when people ask you this simple question, the underlying question is really do you believe in the god that I believe in?   I always know that I don’t. I believe in a god that is the sum total of all people. This is where the power of prayer makes sense to me, by prayer we are manifesting change in our environment, and the energy we put out is eventually what we will receive back.  When people say everyone is inherently good I believe they mean everyone seeks some combination of satisfaction, fulfillment, or happiness in their life. The majority of people get this by doing things that generally help people. Others get this feeling by doing things that are destructive to people.  To have hope we need to put trust in something outside of our control. Another presence on our team is reassuring and lets us focus on the things we can control rather than everything outside our cont...

When someone says to take things “one day at a time, " they really mean that you should be present. You should be in each day, not in any prior or future day. In today. You should visualize each day of your life as the only “real” day you have.  Of course, we need to plan ahead and process the past. But, as much as is possible we should live one day at a time.  Even though I can write this, I still find myself searching for something. I scroll my phone, waste time, and drift off in thought mid-conversation. I have not been very present.  I have forgotten that like all things in life. To master a skill takes practice. Lots of it.  I need to start practicing again. I already know how to practice I just need to start, reading, meditating, and exercising again. 

  Over the past month, I have run into the same problem 3 times. Not taking enough responsibility for my own body. The first incident took place in Colorado. I knew I would be doing much more therapy than usual, almost twice as much in fact. Still, I neglected to schedule a massage. At home, I get one every week, in Colorado I decided I could go a week and a half without one. I said to myself what's another couple of days, right? Wrong. My shoulders got too tight and I cranked my neck leading to a lost range of motion and pain for about three days. I was angry mostly with myself, but also with the adults around me.   In the second incident, I took control. Mountain biking in Utah was a big event and while it was exciting I knew the risk involved. I wanted to stay safe and not tip my bike over, yet I was being peer pressured by one of the staff in a subtle way to join in on trying to wheelie. Luckily I held my ground but later reflected that this certain staff did not have the ...

  Last week I embarked on a trip that I will remember forever. I and five other paralyzed teenagers and a friend were able to go on an adaptive adventure trip because of a generous grant funded by the kelly brush foundation. My friend Danielle is the teen recreation therapist at Craig hospital and orchestrated the entire trip. She even helped me get a friend's flight last minute because my first plus one got Covid a day before the trip! The first night we arrived at the ranch after being mesmerized by the beauty of Utah we met Greg. An unassuming paraplegic who would soon become one of my greatest role models.   The ranch was like something out of a movie, I couldn’t stop thinking exactly that. After waking up early and eating breakfast we embarked on a day full of swimming, paddle boarding, and adaptive mountain bike riding. When we returned to the ranch it was time for a campfire. Danielle proclaimed we were to have a goal for the week. I had no idea what I should say, but I...

Over the past three weeks, I have tried wheelchair tennis, hand-cycle mountain biking, and hiking in a Track chair for the first time ever! All were unique and special in their own way, but the best word to describe all of them is freedom. I could play sports again! I could bike on the same trails I used to! I could hike in the mountains with my friends!  The first activity was wheelchair tennis, I was never any good at tennis before the accident, but it didn’t matter because I would have had to relearn post-accident either way! The community was outstanding. Everyone was so welcoming from the players to the coaches and even the parents. I was able to make so many new friends and connections and learn so much about the game, especially because prior to this practice I knew nothing about tennis at all! (It seems complicated but it really isn’t) I was so jazzed about it that I looked into my friend Eric's suggestion of a tennis camp in the cities. I will be heading there this weekend...