Different, Not Broken

Lauren "L2" Howard
  • 4.0 (20)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

You’ve spent your whole life feeling like something’s wrong with you. Here’s a radical thought: what if you’re not broken - just different? Welcome to Different, Not Broken, the no-filter, emotionally intelligent, occasionally sweary podcast that challenges the idea that we all have to fit inside neat little boxes to be acceptable. Hosted by L2 (aka Lauren Howard), this show dives into the real, raw and ridiculous sides of being neurodivergent, introverted, chronically underestimated - and still completely worthy. Expect deeply honest conversations about identity, neurodivergence, gender, work, grief, anxiety and everything in between. There’ll be tears, dead dad jokes, side quests, and a whole lot of swearing. If you are tired of pretending to be someone you’re not, this space is for you. Come for the chaos. Stay for the catharsis. Linger for the dead Dad jokes.

  1. 1d ago

    Food Aversions, Founder Friendship and Women’s Wellbeing with Dr. Sipra Laddha

    Potatoes, cat tongues, and sandpaper skin—let’s talk food aversions, texture nightmares, and why maybe it’s totally fine to be a grown adult who can’t stand an apple. This week on Different, not broken, I go fully public with a truth: I am not a picky eater. I am… let’s say, texture specific. I will sample almost anything—once. What happens afterward is between me, my gag reflex, and whatever unholy thing just brushed across my taste buds. Mashed potatoes? Yes. Potatoes in soup? Get them away from me. Tomato sauce? Great! Raw tomato? Why do you hate me? Apple slices? Hard pass. Apple juice? Sign me up. Oranges are a war zone, but orange juice is fine—just keep the strings (and the heartburn) far, far away. Are these food preferences weird? Yes. Am I objectively a successful adult nonetheless? Also yes. Even if I can’t finish a plate of beans without gagging while my kids, in a spectacular twist of parental fate, will eat literally anything with stoic enthusiasm. It’s not just about food, though. We blend the personal with the professional this episode. Our guest is the incomparable Speaker B, CEO of Luna Joy, mental health advocate, and my literal first phone call when I decided to build my practice. We tackle the idea of “competition” in women’s mental health spaces (spoiler: the real competition is the broken system, not each other) and how collaboration—not cutthroat tactics—moves everyone forward. Thinking of launching your own thing but stuck on knowing whether venture capital and bootstrapping are just buzzwords for other people? We’ve lived both sides. Speaker B and I compare paths: raising millions in venture funding (which is about as glamorous as microwaving leftovers, more or less) versus scraping resources together and building from the ground up. Both are exhausting. Both are possible. Both come with landmines only those who have actually been in the room can describe. Maybe you’ve never considered what it’s like to be the only woman—sometimes the only woman of color—pitching life-or-death solutions to a room full of people who need to check with their wives to know what postpartum depression is. Spoiler: you end up not only knowing you belong in those rooms, but also knowing you’ve got something the rest of the room literally cannot bring. Still deciding if Different, not broken is your kind of podcast? If you’ve ever: Wondered why your sandwich can’t just be a sandwich—without some slimy tomato sabotaging itNeeded to know how real women founders support each other through texts, resources, and mutual survival tactics instead of passive-aggressive LinkedIn shadeWanted to hear a vulnerable, unfiltered story about living through postpartum depression from someone who was clinically trained to help others (and still couldn’t get help herself)Needed a reason to feel absolutely valid in your own “weirdness,” whether that’s food, mood, or business battlesAre looking for a show where softness is strength, and being different is a whole functional life, not a defect Then hit play. If nothing else, you’ll leave feeling a little less alone in your quirks, and maybe with exactly the push you need to find your own sandbox—and fill it with the right people. Plus, in Small Talk: a former Marine writes in about random, emotional tears in middle age. Why does softness sneak up on us, and what does it mean to finally drop the armor and just feel? Spoiler: it isn’t weakness. Listen in. We save room for you—no tomatoes required. Find out more about Sipra here: https://sipraladdhamd.com/

    46 min
  2. I run successful companies but cleaning up their mess is still sometimes my main job

    May 27

    I run successful companies but cleaning up their mess is still sometimes my main job

    My kids were supposed to be gone for three days. Three days turned into eleven. I had the house to myself, figured out who I am without background chaos, and managed to function like an actual adult person. Then they came home. And then everyone got norovirus. This week I'm walking through the Mother's Day that was the Mother's Dayest Mother's Day of any Mother's Day ever recorded — and one that was so chaotic, I've only just recovered from it enough to talk about it! Then Alison joins for Small Talk with a question from Tammy in Montana — a florist who built a real, thriving business from scratch, but whose mom still calls it "a phase."

    15 min
  3. You feel better? That's not the point. Keep the appointment!

    May 20

    You feel better? That's not the point. Keep the appointment!

    Keep the appointment. I know. You feel better. You made the appointment when you were really struggling, and now things aren't so bad and it feels unnecessary. You're fine. Probably. Maybe. Here's the thing about neurodivergent brains: they're really good at reaching for help in a crisis, and really good at talking themselves out of it the second the crisis passes. A 24-hour improvement is not a support system. It's just the top of the roller coaster. In this episode, I talk about why you need to keep the appointment even when you feel fine — especially when you feel fine. PLUS: I tell you about the book my dad never finished that I'm going to finish for him someday. It's about Betsy Ross, who apparently owned a brothel, not a sewing circle. History is a lot. AND in Small Talk: Alison shares a question from to Marcus in Chicago, who canceled plans, had a perfect solo day (soup, documentary about bridges, no pants), and then felt guilty about every second of it. TIMESTAMPS 00:00:57 — Dad's Unfinished Book: Betsy Ross's Drawing Room 00:03:07 — The Instruction: Keep the Appointment 00:04:19 — Why We Cancel (When We Finally Start to Feel Better) 00:07:33 — The Roller Coaster: High Points Don't Last 00:08:06 — Build the Support System Before You Need It 00:09:28 — Small Talk: Marcus from Chicago on Canceled Plans and Guilt

    14 min
  4. I'm Not Yelling at Him, I'm Yelling In His Direction. If I'm Quiet, You're in Trouble

    May 13

    I'm Not Yelling at Him, I'm Yelling In His Direction. If I'm Quiet, You're in Trouble

    Here's the thing about asking for help: the ask itself is the labor. And I learned that the hard way during the two worst weeks of my life. My youngest came eight weeks early. I'd just had a C-section. We were running back and forth to the NICU, trying to care for a two-year-old at home, healing from surgery, and keeping an entire life running on fumes. People kept asking, "What can we do?" And we kept saying, "We're fine." Not because we were fine. Because figuring out what to ask for was just as much work as doing it ourselves. And then a woman showed up at my door without warning, without asking, and handed me a gift I'll never forget. And it was the most incredibly simple but caring one imaginable. This episode is also about what happens when I stop talking — which, if you know me, is significantly more terrifying than anything that comes out of my mouth. I talk about productive yelling, why silence in our house is a five-alarm situation, and the very Italian way my in-laws communicate. And in this week's Small Talk, Alison shares a question from Darnell in Atlanta. Mentioned in this episode: Join Quirky

    29 min
  5. The IVF clinic scandal nobody prepared me for

    May 6

    The IVF clinic scandal nobody prepared me for

    "I sold my company. I guess technically we're still in the process, but it's done. The thing I built from scratch. The dream I lay in bed and imagined. Done." That alone would be a whole episode. But there's more. In this episode, I'm talking about the 120 days that changed me on a molecular level — because that's not an exaggeration. My mom got sick. The burnout was real. The lights were staying on, but barely. And then a news story hit my phone that I was not prepared for. It involves an IVF clinic we used eight years ago for our youngest daughter. I'm not ready to share everything, and there are things I legally can't say. But I want you to know where I've been, mentally, with this whole *gestures arms wildly at everything*. And I want you to know that sometimes the thing that brings you to your knees has absolutely nothing to do with your business, your calendar, or your capacity — and everything to do with something you didn't see coming.

    35 min
  6. Not All Men! But Definitely 62 Million Hits From Some of the Men...

    Apr 29

    Not All Men! But Definitely 62 Million Hits From Some of the Men...

    Maybe not all men. But what do we do when a site has 62 million hits originating from lots of them? Hi, I'm Lauren Howard. I go by "L2" and this week I'm going full Winter Soldier mode. You know that scene in Captain America where they say the trigger phrase and Bucky Barnes just... activates? Yeah, that's me. Every. Single. Time. someone types "not all men" in my comments. We're talking about the 62 million hits logged on a website that existed to teach people how to s*xually assault women. For context: Sony's entire website gets 24 million hits a month. So let's not pretend the numbers are somehow ambiguous here. We also get into the prototype employee — the 45-year-old white man that every workplace policy, dress code, and promotion pipeline has been quietly built around — and what that means for literally everyone else. Timestamped summary 00:57 — The "not all men" trigger phrase02:17 — The 45-year-old white man prototype03:57 — Why workplaces weren't built for your brain05:42 — 62 million hits. Let that land.07:04 — Why women choose the bear10:22 — The responsibility of the good men12:23 — ADHD brain & too many tabs open14:01 — My children are weaponizing their butts14:34 — Small Talk with Alison: self-improvement culture15:57 — The iPhone 1 analogy17:32 — There is no finish line

    20 min
  7. March Madness Sportsball: For When The Murder Shows Stop Working

    Apr 22

    March Madness Sportsball: For When The Murder Shows Stop Working

    The news broke me. The murder shows stopped working. So I watched a month of college basketball I do not care about, and it was the only thing keeping my nervous system upright. In this episode I'm unpacking three things: → Why "distraction" is an actual mental health strategy, and why sportsball was the weirdly perfect antidote to doomscrolling. → A very clear message for anyone whose job is chewing them up: You are an asset, not a liability. Burnout culture is not only cruel, it's bad business. The math on replacing good employees is brutal, and your workplace being too short-sighted to see that has nothing to do with your value. → Small Talk Frank from Scranton wants to know why he can't relax into stability. If you needed to hear "this isn't you, it's them" today — hi, it's them. Chapters00:00 Cold open: You are an asset, not a liability 00:38 Hi, I'm L2 — welcome back to Different, Not Broken 01:05 Why I always have something on in the background (blame childhood chaos) 02:04 When the murder shows stopped working 03:00 The news broke me 03:43 Basketball as my zero-stakes sanity reset 04:48 Accidentally Pavlov'd by March Madness 05:54 The women's games are better, argue with the wall 06:35 Gratitude for dumb distractions 08:12 Workplaces are getting worse (and it's bad business) 08:54 The actual math on turnover and institutional knowledge 09:37 Short-term thinking is stealing your future 10:13 "It's not personal, it's just business" is an excuse 11:16 You are an asset, not a liability 12:26 You are not the problem for having boundaries 13:32 AI outsourcing and the coming pay cut 14:10 You deserve safety, accommodations, and a workplace built for humans 14:59 Small Talk with Alison: a question from Frank in Scranton 15:13 Hypervigilance, trauma, or just being realistic? 16:09 Why I can't let myself get excited about good things 16:44 Chaotic families and why I hate my birthday 17:45 Two trophies and a dead dog (and then, open-heart surgery) 18:42 Some of us are just wired this way 19:31 When it might be time to talk to a professional 20:22 Olympics tangent: how does anyone end up doing the luge? Resources & Links Got a question for Small Talk? Send it in: https://differentnotbrokenpodcast.com/voicemail Mentioned in this episode: Wanna learn to write like me? Here's how you can! Writing Course

    23 min
  8. I Put on Makeup. That's The Big Win.

    Apr 15

    I Put on Makeup. That's The Big Win.

    We're back. I put on makeup today. Seriously, that's where we are right now. I took a break — a self-imposed silent hiatus you probably didn't know about, because I had a backlog and I'm nothing if not someone who runs her mouth into a microphone first and asks questions later. But the break is over, and I was not ready to come back today. I was very, very not ready. And yet here we are, because I can do things scared, and apparently that includes walking downstairs and getting in front of the microphone when all I wanted was my best friend. (My kids confirmed my best friend is my bed. They weren't wrong.) In this episode, I'm talking about: — Odin, my 175-pound Great Dane who has exactly one person in this house and it is not me. Until he got scared. Then it was very much me. — A listener question from Talia in Berkeley about how you grieve versions of yourself you never got to become — the careers, the relationships, the risks you didn't take. — My dad's passing in 2016 and what happened in the four months after: every service line that was paying our business's bills disappeared. Every. Single. One. The universe was done with that chapter before I was. This episode is 18 minutes. It's also a little unplanned, a little raw, and exactly what it needs to be. Come back with me. CHAPTERS: 00:00 — War Paint On: We're Back (Armed with Makeup) 01:30 — What Counts as a Break When Your Brain Never Stops 02:09 — Content Brain Doesn't Take Vacations 02:50 — I Was Not Ready (But Here Anyway) 05:44 — Odin the 175-Pound Great Dane Who Only Loves Me in Crisis 09:02 — I'm the Safe Parent, Apparently 09:55 — What It's Actually Like Having Giant Dogs 12:24 — Small Talk: Grieving the Life You Didn't Live Mentioned in this episode: Join Quirky

    20 min
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Trailer

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out of 5
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About

You’ve spent your whole life feeling like something’s wrong with you. Here’s a radical thought: what if you’re not broken - just different? Welcome to Different, Not Broken, the no-filter, emotionally intelligent, occasionally sweary podcast that challenges the idea that we all have to fit inside neat little boxes to be acceptable. Hosted by L2 (aka Lauren Howard), this show dives into the real, raw and ridiculous sides of being neurodivergent, introverted, chronically underestimated - and still completely worthy. Expect deeply honest conversations about identity, neurodivergence, gender, work, grief, anxiety and everything in between. There’ll be tears, dead dad jokes, side quests, and a whole lot of swearing. If you are tired of pretending to be someone you’re not, this space is for you. Come for the chaos. Stay for the catharsis. Linger for the dead Dad jokes.

Information

  • Creator
    Lauren "L2" Howard
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    69
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Lauren "L2" Howard
  • Show Website
    Different, Not Broken

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