FERS Disability: OPM disability retirement

Medical Retirement under FERS & CSRS: Excellence and mediocrity

October 22, 2018

Are the two identified only by comparative existence? Can one abide in pure mediocrity throughout a lifetime, only to be fooled into thinking that excellence has been achieved, but on the day before extinguishment from this universe, be visited by pure excellence that suddenly compels one to realize that all along, only a ho-hum level of mediocrity had been attained? Conversely, can one maintain a level of excellence without a comparative standard against which one may know what “mediocrity” consists of? […]

Medical Retirement under FERS & CSRS: Deviating and adapting

June 22, 2018

How does one deviate or adapt, if one is approaching something anew? Such concepts as modifying or altering a methodology presumes that one has encountered the process before, and thus it stands to reason that a person who has never previously experienced something before can hardly be expected to provide new insights when the experience itself is new to the individual. […]

Federal Disability Retirement Representation: The problem perspective

June 14, 2018

Does “positive thinking” actually work? Or, is it one of those pithy approaches to life, where the “throwaway” line is used to dismiss unpleasantries and negative influences that might otherwise disprove the obvious — that life is difficult enough without listening to the difficulties of others? Then, there is the “problem perspective” — of seeing everything as a problem as opposed to a solution or opportunity, and to see the world as a glass half-empty in contradistinction to a half-full universe. […]

OPM Retirement for Mental or Physical Incapacity: Fear and trepidation

April 9, 2018

The first may lead to the second; the second, exacerbating the first, may establish a vicious cycle where fear is feeding the trepidation and the trepidation continues to exponentially increase the fear because non-action only expands the tension that grows without containment or restriction. It is, indeed, a conundrum of paralysis; and the will to change, alter or modify necessitates action, but action cannot come before fear is vanquished and trepidation is overcome. […]

Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees: The rate of return

March 15, 2018

At what point does the rate of return diminish to the extent that it is “no longer worth it.”? And, what is the “it” referring to? Is it the effort expended in contrast to the compensation received? Is it the dividends paid upon an investment ignored? Often, in all of the contexts just described, the focus is upon the wrong point; it is not the “end product” or the final sum that should determine […]

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement from OPM: Feelings

February 24, 2018

There are appropriate contexts within which to consider them, as well as places, insertions, events and conversational modalities where it is partly or entirely irrelevant; but as with most things in life, the boundaries that bifurcate are not always clear and distinct. When one is considering purely subjective circumstances, it is clearly the “appropriate” moment — of personal relationships; of a vacation to be taken; of emotions being considered. […]

Federal Disability Retirement Information: Action after words

January 12, 2018

Does the failure of an action to succeed a string of words make it automatically into a lie, or can it merely indicate a delay between thought and action, spoken words and action, or misinterpretation of words followed by non-action? Are there phrases and afterthoughts that undermine and negate the initial statement of promised and anticipated actions, such that they “justify” the non-action? […]

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement: The retirement itch

January 3, 2018

It normally doesn’t come until late in life; of that picturesque paradigm of the old man sitting in a rocking chair beside a crackling fire, a dog or cat, perhaps, on the floor just beside, reading a novel or looking through a picture album; where is Norman Rockwell, and is he still relevant? In modernity and more recently, the picture depicted is of the old couple, or in solitary state of affairs, climbing the mountains in the Himalayas or traveling to exotic lands beyond; […]

Federal Employee Disability Retirement: The out-of-tune band

October 10, 2017

There is something particularly annoying about a piece of music, an orchestral ensemble or a simple song that is out of synchronized perfection, or put quite simply, out of tune. The annoyance can be traced, of course, to the origin of the discordant piece; the “band” itself, the group of musicians or the orchestra or symphony that is responsible for the unpleasant sound waves that drift […]

Medical Disability Retirement under FERS & CSRS: Persuasion

October 3, 2017

What does it mean to “persuade”? Is it an outcome-based event? Can one be “persuasive”, yet never persuade anyone to act upon a commitment made, perhaps verbally or with a nod of the head? What of a person who everyone agrees makes the most persuasive arguments, turns everyone’s heads with accolades of “wow” and “boy!”, yet no one can find a single person who has been persuaded to change one’s mind or follow? How about in battle – of that skinny little runt of a captain who nervously spoke, but who charged the troops up with great words and ideas […]