Different, Not Broken

This is what happens when your brain runs out of RAM. Hi, I'm Lauren Howard (you can call me L2) and this is my podcast Different, Not Broken - which is about exactly that. My mom is in the hospital. Again. My kids are at camp for the first time ever. My co-worker Vanessa's grandmother fell. Kyle's eye is still a thing. And I have exactly zero bandwidth left for anything — including, apparently, r...

My oldest turns 10 this week, which is rude and kind of bullshit, and I will accept no part of it. She did not ask my permission. Hi, I'm Lauren Howard . Some people call me L2. You can too if you want. This is my podcast "Different, Not Broken" which is about exactly that. In this episode, I take you back to exactly 10 years ago — the Thursday night when a weird feeling turned into a labor story...

I am not generally a catastrophizer. I can see worst-case scenarios in almost any situation — and I'm usually right. But I'm always happy to be wrong. I just... don't get the opportunity that often. This week's episode is exactly the kind of chaos that makes me me. It starts with the NY Knicks winning the NBA Championship (for which I personally deserve significant credit, having been invested in...

Life right now feels like putting on a pair of jeans immediately out of the shower. We’re gonna get through it. But it’s gonna feel sticky. Hi friends. I'm Lauren Howard , and this is my podcast Different, Not Broken . I did so much peopling in one single Sunday that I genuinely lost track of what week it was. A makeup class. Brunch at a place that charges $30 for an omelette and somehow recommend...

Welcome to another episode of Different, Not Broken , the podcast that dives deep into the beauty of being different and the myth of brokenness. I’m Lauren Howard, and today I’m joined by the inimitable Cindy Gallop—renowned brand builder, outspoken public speaker, and founder of Make Love Not Porn. In this candid conversation, we talk about the challenges and triumphs of showing up authentically...

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 unho...

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 w...

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 s...

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...

"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...

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...

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 chew...

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...

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...

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 runni...

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...

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 r...

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...

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 tha...

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...

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...

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

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 b...

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

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 a...