About Ronda
In addition to being a Wellness Advocate and Practitioner, Ronda is a Writer, Screenwriter, Playwright, Actress, Director, Speaker, Certified Career Coach, Certified Life Coach, Career Advice Expert, and HR Consultant. She holds a Bachelors in Finance, a Masters of Science in Human Resources, and a Master of Art in Film and Media Production. She is also pursuing a Masters in Counseling (2022) from Lamar University.
Through her journey in living with chronic illness and being in recovery for PTSD, a journey that is ongoing and requires her to live moment by moment, she is clear that stories connect us, inspire us, help us heal, and help us grow. She supports individuals and businesses in expressing their stories through words and works with individuals to meet their career and life goals through consulting and coaching services. Born and raised in a one-stop-light town in north-central West Virginia, she has spent the majority of her adult life in Houston, TX. She currently lives in Morgantown, WV with her beloved pooch, Cinderella.
A Note from Ronda
Hi. I’m Ronda Suder. Thank you for being here.
Here is a little bit about me …
I was diagnosed with C-PTSD (Complex PTSD) in early 2018, and it turns out, I went undiagnosed for at least the last two decades of my life. I was also diagnosed with chronic conditions CFS/ME, Chronic Mono, Fibromyalgia and low-grade hypothyroidism in my mid-20s.
What does all of this mean?
It means that life has been anything short of a picnic at times, it’s been very bittersweet at other times, and I’ve found myself on my hands and knees not knowing how to keep going or support myself on one too many occasions — if my livelihood were a beautiful rug that I found myself in the middle of throughout life, at least five times, that rug has been pulled out from under me, and I have had to create a new one, piece by piece and thread by thread.
It’s been a whole lotta faith, trust, and strength that has kept me going — and I promise that there have been plenty of times where I truly wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep going at all, let alone stand back up.
It was the diagnosis of C-PTSD/PTSD and my recovery for it, which is ongoing, that has made my life challenges — especially as an adult — make a whole lot more sense to me. Also, through my journey with C-PTSD, specifically, I’ve come to appreciate that there is a huge gap to be filled between available information about the condition and the real-life stories of people living with it — and this holds true for mental health in general, as well as the other chronic conditions I mentioned, though the gap isn’t quite as large for the latter.
I believe this gap is, in part, due to the fact that when it comes to chronic conditions and mental health, those of us dealing with the symptoms of them are afraid to talk about it, and if we do have the courage to speak up about it, people look at us as if we’re crazy, so, we shut up. We suffer in silence. Not understanding what’s happening or knowing what to do about it, we do our best to cope — we medicate, we act out, we isolate, we become “stuck.” Or, we suicide, and there’s no coming back.
And then, we often question how a person could get to that point … when the hard reality is, the signs were likely there.
We also might remain silent about health conditions we’re experiencing because we don’t want it to go down on paper that we have any type of “serious” physical or mental health condition due to the risk of losing benefits.
Or, we might remain silent because the root of our conditions stems from trauma from our past — domestic violence, molestation, abuse, rape, neglect, you name it — and talking about that kind of truth, quite frankly, can be terrifying. At best, it’s a CF – often the people who hurt us are also the people who are supposed to protect us. And, often, those who are victims of abuse or traumatic experiences blame themselves.
Silence is not OK. Silence is not the answer.
It’s essential that we begin speaking about conditions that are misunderstood. It’s required in order to bridge the gap between assumptions and truth, knowledge and misunderstanding, and recovery and suffering.
My pursuit in receiving proper support and treatment for my conditions over the past two decades has also made it clear to me that we need more than a change in our healthcare system — we need a revolution.
Thus, what was once a site to primarily represent my creative and entrepreneurial endeavors as a coach, consultant, and writer has been expanded upon … to support well-being across the board and open up a much-needed dialogue about C-PTSD, PTSD, mental health in general, childhood trauma, chronic illness, domestic violence, loss, suffering, treatment solutions, and more.
The goal is to share stories to support well-being in whatever medium the messages flow — blogs, guest blogs, videos, song, audio, Q&As, podcasts, comedy, and so on.
I’ll share more about my experiences and conditions regularly, as well as those of others, so I hope you check back for new and fresh content. Better yet, you can enter your email info in the box at the top right side of this page to follow this blog!
Reclaiming well-being one story at a time …
With Love,
Ronda
Have a question or something to share? I’d love to hear from you!