What does it mean to “take things for granted”?
Often, it is only when something is taken away that the value of the vanished item of vacuity vainly verifies the validity of its valuation. Sorry for the alliterative illustration. Similarly, the cosseted life is one where over-indulgence of protected care may have existed, and the sudden or gradual disappearance of that sense of security leaves one vulnerable and potentially open to harm.
Health, itself, offers the cosseted life; and loss of it, an overwhelming sense of vulnerability.
In youth, when health is so often taken for granted, we are apt to embrace challenging and silly endeavors. We might jump out of planes, for instance; or engage in other acts of mindless stupidity. We expect failing health in the metaphorically twilight days of our lives, but when it occurs in the middle years, it often catches us off guard, and the loss of a cosseted life is felt all the more fervently.
For Federal employees and U.S. Postal Workers who suffer from a medical conditions such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, the sequence of dealing with the loss of that cosseted life often follows a familiar pattern — First, attend to the medical condition; Next, try and accept the available treatments such that a return to a level of functionality may be attained where your Federal or Postal career can continue.
Then, if the medical condition reaches a level of chronicity such that it becomes clear that you will not be able to perform all of the essential elements of your Federal or Postal job, contact a FERS Lawyer who specializes in OPM Medical Retirement Law. For, in the end, the loss of a cosseted life should never be the end of something, but rather the beginning of a different phase, a varying period, an alternate condition, and a future still available for adaptive living.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Lawyer
OPM Disability Retirement, Et Cetera… 