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PODCAST

Different, Not Broken

Lauren "L2" Howard

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

health & fitness mental health

All Episodes

23:08

March Madness Sportsball: For When The Murder Shows...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/04/22

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

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19:51

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

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/04/15

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

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36:12

Don't Send Me a Video: Lists, Learning Styles & the...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/04/08

I'll just say it: don't send me a video.Not because I'm technologically challenged — I literally make video content for a living — but because if I need information fast, I need it in a format I can actually consume. Scrollable. Skimmable. Mine to move through in the order my brain needs. Send me a video and you have just given me homework, and I am not paying you to give me homework.That's the rant that opens this episode, and I stand by every word of it.But then we get into something that I think

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29:32

Why We Do People-First Leadership (even though it has...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/04/01

In this episode, I talk about what it actually looks like when you prioritize people-first leadership — not the inspirational poster version, but the version where you're paying someone's salary while they're out sick, covering their workload yourself, and looking at your bank account like it personally offended you.A friend called me — the kind who doesn't call unless there's a thing. He's running a business the right way, the people-first way, and he needed me to tell him he was doing it wrong so

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16:49

I Robbed My Mom and My 9-Year-Old (In That Order) and...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/03/25

My mom was in the hospital. ICU-level hospital. I knew she was going to be fine — but I also hadn't slept, and I was running on that specific kind of fuel that is equal parts functional and completely frayed.I had a lot of feelings. I did not share most of them. Instead, I asked her the question that actually mattered: how charged is your phone?This episode is about what happens when the people who raised us start needing us to show up — and how that experience is mostly logistical problem-solving

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19:26

Paint by Number is Fine. A Coloring Book is a Threat!

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/03/18

In this episode which is sponsored by our wonderful partners at Inflow , I have a bone to pick with everyone who has ever bought me a coloring book. I know you meant well. I know you love me. I know you saw "mindless activity" and thought of me. But I need you to understand something: there is nothing in this world more stressful than being handed a mandala and a box of markers and being told to relax. Nothing.Hi, I'm Lauren Howard and my friends call me L2.Over the coming 20 minutes, I'll be

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29:05

What my body remembered that my brain tried to forget

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/03/11

In this episode which is sponsored by our wonderful partners at Inflow I'm sharing an update from a couple of weeks ago when my mom was sick and I called an ambulance. She was going to be fine. I knew she was going to be fine. I was calm. I was functional. I was on the phone with my business partner — who is also an ER doctor, which I have decided is a mandatory qualification for that role — while flagging down the paramedics from the front porch.And then I walked outside and completely fell

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20:04

Mute Your Wonderwall Because I'm Clicking Things!

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/03/04

In this episode which is sponsored by our wonderful partners at Inflow I'm going on the record about something extremely important: loud music makes food taste bad, and I will not be taking questions or feedback on this. I support your live music. I will not consume it while eating my French fries. These are two separate things.I also have a feelings-based relationship with computer keyboards that started in approximately 1994 in a Radio Shack, has never ended, and apparently runs in the family.We

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21:06

Arguments with dudes on the internet:...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/02/25

I've been doing the internet antagonizing. I apologize. Not to the people I'm doing it to — they deserve it — but to the universe in general.Last week I got into two arguments with dudes on the internet. It's like a thing I do. These are always cantankerous dude bros, and they always get what they deserve. The argument is almost always the same.I have one question. I ask it every time. It brings their very bullish "I know everything about running a workplace" energy down to a full Porky Pig real

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22:22

The Little Extra Hug (And Other Things My Brain Needs)

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/02/18

I didn’t plan to talk about George Carlin.Or mascara.Or why I apparently cannot send a calendar invite without causing structural damage.But here we are.Hi, I’m Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do.In this episode of Different, Not Broken, I talk about why I can speak into a microphone for 100,000 strangers… and feel deeply uncomfortable when someone I actually know tells me they listened.I unpack the idea of the “little extra hug” you can only get from strangers. Why performing

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03:52

People still use these?

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/02/14

We had a hell of a week last week. But let me tell you this one story....

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19:46

Sudoku Shame, Sandwich Logic and Ridiculous Brains

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/02/11

I didn’t plan to talk about sandwiches this much.Or water.Or Sudoku.But here we are.Hi, I’m Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do.In this episode of Different, Not Broken, I talk about the strange, often ridiculous ways our brains create shame out of absolutely nothing. Eating the “wrong” food. Convincing yourself you hate water even though you love it. Feeling mortified because you’re slow at a logic puzzle no one else can see.I unpack why our brains invent rules that don’t exist,

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03:45

I Hate The New England Patriots. But Al Michaels?...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/02/06

Happy Superbowl... to everyone but the New England Patriots because f**K them guys.

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44:10

ICE Raids, Queer Faith and Why Injustice Feels So...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/02/04

I didn’t want to have this rant.I’m tired of needing to have this rant.Hi, I’m Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do.In this episode of Different, Not Broken, I talk about ICE raids, fear, and what it feels like when people are genuinely afraid to exist in their own communities.I tell a personal story about someone I rely on every day being too scared to drive six minutes across her own neighbourhood — despite being a citizen — because ICE was crawling the area. And I unpack why

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21:55

I recognized him instantly. (My Reality TV → Real...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/01/28

I recognised him instantly.I’d never met him before.Hi, I’m Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do.In this episode of Different, Not Broken, I tell the story of going to a startup funding event in Miami and unexpectedly sitting down next to someone I knew far too much about… despite never having spoken to him in my life.It turns out reality TV, social conditioning, and a neurodivergent brain make for a very specific kind of social experience.This episode is about what it’s like to

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25:37

Simplify My Soda: A Crispy Coke RTO Love Story

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/01/21

I have a habit of saying the obvious things most workplaces avoid.Hi, I’m Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do.In this episode of Different, Not Broken, I break down why basic human standards at work get treated like radical ideas, why return to office policies are deeply ableist, and why so much “innovative leadership” is really just common sense wrapped in better language.This episode is about simplifying what’s been overcomplicated for years.You’ll hear:Why psychological safety

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41:22

You're Not Broken. You Were Taught Harmful Theology!

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/01/14

You’re not broken.But a lot of us were taught to believe we were.Hi, I’m Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do. And in this episode of Different, Not Broken, I’m talking with Libby Alders, a pastoral chaplain who works at the intersection of faith, trauma, and identity, about what happens when religion stops being a source of comfort and starts quietly doing damage.We get into how harmful theology gets lodged in your nervous system, why so many neurodivergent and LGBTQIA people

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03:10

Can somebody please explain this timeline to me?

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/01/09

Can somebody please explain this timeline to me?Because I have a confession.Last week — not even sure which day, definitely one of the days ending in “y” — something happened.And I have no idea how.

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23:33

I Survived the Flight and Still Won’t Load the Toilet...

Different, Not Broken ·

2026/01/07

Flying makes me anxious. Not the mild kind. The walls-closing-in, I-need-control kind.Hi, I'm Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do. And in this episode of "Different, Not Broken" I talk about what it was like flying with someone who supported me without making a thing of it. No fuss. No questions. No spotlight. Just quiet, steady presence.We get into why that kind of support works so well, especially for anxious and neurodivergent people, and why “are you okay?” is often the least

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25:22

What If This Is It?

Different, Not Broken ·

2025/12/31

Nobody tells you this part about being a parent.That every boundary you set comes with a quiet, gnawing guilt.Needing space. Wanting quiet. Asking not to be touched for five minutes.And immediately wondering if you’ll regret it forever.Hi, I'm Lauren Howard. You can call me L2. Like other people do.And in this episode of Different, Not Broken, I talk about the constant tug-of-war between your needs as a human and your guilt as a parent.Because even when your kids are healthy, safe, loved, and

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