You're Not Too Much

Infertility isn’t just a medical diagnosis — it’s a daily ache that reshapes how you see yourself, your relationships, and even good news from people you love.

In this raw, unfiltered episode, I'm opening the hell up about four years of unexplained infertility, pregnancy loss, the jealousy nobody admits out loud, and why asking “When are you having kids?” can quietly devastate someone.

If you’ve been there, you’ll feel seen. If you haven’t, you’ll understand why silence, empathy, and better questions matter.

Have a listen. It might just make you feel better about all... that *gestures wildly at everything*

Oh, and check out all the other ways in which I can support you, here. https://stan.store/elletwo

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Boomers love secrets!

I said it. Maybe you flinched reading that—maybe you’re nodding along, feeling it deep in your bones, the way “don’t tell anyone” was as common in your house as “finish your peas.” This episode is for every person who grew up in a family where “put on a smile” was mandatory, pain was packed neatly away, and no news—good or bad—ever left the front door until it was passé.

I’m Lauren Howard (L2). Here’s the deal: I was raised by a Greatest Generation dad and a very boomer mom. Our home? “Curated” was not an Instagram aesthetic, it was a lifestyle. Major life events? Hush-hush. Fights? Don’t you dare let the neighbors know. Moving across the country? Tell no one—not even the kids, until a for-sale sign is basically in your face.

Fast forward to adulthood, and I’m the one who “shouldn’t tell,” but thirty seconds later I’m blasting my life out to the internet. It’s a push-pull dance between inherited silence and radical honesty—a lifelong project of untangling which secrets keep us safe and which just keep us isolated.

WHY LISTEN?

• If you're part of the cycle of "boomer secrets" and want to break the shame around pain and joy.
• If generational expectations shape your willingness to be open about your struggles, and you want to over come them.
• If embracing your whole self, not just the curated parts would improve your life.

Click play. Let’s un-curate, together.

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Breakups Aren’t Just for Lovers: Why Losing Neurodivergent Friends Hurts So Damn Much

We don’t talk enough about the heartbreak of losing neurodivergent friends. For many of us, those friendships feel deeper than family. And when they end, the grief can be worse than any romantic breakup.

This Different Not Broken episode dives into the messy, under-discussed reality of neurodivergent friendships: why they click so intensely, why they sometimes vanish without warning, and why the grief lingers for years.

I'm doin' it. I'm getting real and raw, sharing my own story of losing a best friend—the late-night phone calls that suddenly stopped, the milestones missed, the ache that outlasted every past relationship breakup.

Why listen?

• If you’ve ever lost a neurodivergent friend and felt like no one understood how deep it cut.
• If you’ve wondered why friendship grief can feel sharper than heartbreak.
• If you’re tired of being told to “get over it.”
• Or if you just want to feel seen.

Because friendship breakups aren’t just side notes—they’re real grief.

And for neurodivergent friends, that loss can shake your world.

Hit play for a necessary, validating reminder: you’re not broken for hurting this bad.

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Nine years.

That’s how long it’s been since my dad died.

Nine years of breathing around a space that never refills.

Nine years of being a parent without my favorite example of maternal energy.

Nine years of mothering, leading, starting a business, and still, on some days, needing to remind myself that “different” is just that—different, not broken.

Welcome to an episode that will mess with your pause button.

It’s about love, loss, empathy, and the complicated math of moving forward when someone who powered your entire operating system just isn’t here anymore.

(Spoiler alert: Siri has nothing on my dad’s emotional support iPhone.)

This is the story I didn’t know if I’d ever share with a mic.

I’ve written about this.

I’ve skirted around it in essays, offered tiny slices in speeches, and let it simmer in my private thoughts. But speaking it out loud? That’s a whole other layer of irreverence and vulnerability.

Qualities my dad basically trademarked.

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I've never been able to tell left from right.

There! I said it.

I’ll probably say it again at least fourteen times before breakfast tomorrow.

My brain has never clocked the absolute 'well, obviously' of which direction is which.

But... plot twist... that’s not a problem.

It’s just different. And that difference taught me a hell of a lot more about myself, my family, and resilience than any workbook, life hack, or well-meaning suggestion of a trick to try and solve it.

If you’ve ever felt that friction of being handed a supposedly 'easy' trick (“just write it on your hands, Lauren!”) only to realize it helps exactly zero, or if you have a kid whose way of being in the world defies every sharp-edged box marked “normal,” you’ll want to tune in.

This week on Different, not Broken, I'm unpacking how difference (not “defect”) steered my entire trajectory: in school, on the playground, behind the wheel (left? right? Eh…), even into how I parent my own kids.

This episode has it all - weird brains, unlabeled hands, toppling off monkey bars, and the rest: welcome to the soft, shameless, science-y, supportive corner of the internet.

Listen in, bring your questions, and, if you figure out which way is left, DM me.

Or don’t. Because my brain still won't see it.

Hit play. Let's celebrate our 'different'.

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One pill a day. That’s all it takes, apparently, to give the world its color back. You’d think adding a little routine to your morning... a pill, a glass of water... wouldn’t be the hill your mental health dies on, but here we are.

In this week’s episode of Different, Not Broken, I'm letting you in on the strange, subtle shape that anxiety and depression can take. And why you don’t need a five-alarm fire in your life to justify asking for help.

This episode peels back the curtain on what 'not broken' really means, especially when you’ve been high-functioning, hyper-responsible, and the go-to for getting stuff done.

I'm talking candidly about the quiet ways depression and anxiety can erode joy from your life without ever stopping you from making payroll or packing school lunches.

00:00 "Unexpected Gray Days Cure"

03:50 Pandemic Stress and Anxiety Diagnosis

06:22 Realizing Deeper Issues Beyond Anxiety

12:33 Seeking Support Without Crisis

14:26 Avoiding Direct Support for Author

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This is your cue to send a bouquet of apology flowers to every postal worker you’ve ever rolled your eyes at.

In this week’s episode, I, Lauren Howard (aka L2, thanks for asking), spiral into the surprisingly convoluted topics of marriage, US mailing discounts and business-unit-only windows that might or might not be open.

Turns out, love isn’t always roses and chocolate.

If you’re one of those people who’s ever panicked because the 'simple' task on your list involves fifteen sub-tasks, or you’ve ever desperately wished someone would just handle it when executive function leaves you high and dry, then this episode is for you.

Thinking of skipping this one?

Don’t.

If you’ve ever felt steamrolled by a 'basic' task or exhausted by the endless loop of family birthdays, this is your safe space. If you’re looking for tactical life hacks, zero judgment, and a side of dead dad jokes, you’ll want to hit play and stay awhile.

Different is not broken, and you’re not alone in the chaos.

Subscribe/follow, listen, and prepare to eye those Four-for-$5 glitter globes at Five Below with brand new appreciation.

Loveyameanit.

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Who told you you weren’t good enough?

No really, who actually said it? Because I checked, and 9 times out of 10, it’s just you playing that broken record in your head.

I show up to urgent care in pajamas, basically grunting in pain, and still get asked for telehealth advice. That’s right. People think I know what I’m doing. Meanwhile, I am absolutely carrying a full set of imposter syndrome luggage.

Four businesses. Programs built from scratch. Surrounded by credentialed pros. And yet my inner monologue is: “Am I allowed to be here? Is someone going to figure out I have no idea what I’m doing?”

Listen to this episode, because it features a neat trick you can do next time your brain starts farting out its “You Have Zero Business Here” speech.

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What is “normal,” and why does everyone want it so damn bad?

No, really. When did we start treating “normal” like the holy grail instead of the steaming pile of… well, I’ll let you fill in the blank.

On this episode of Different, Not Broken, I—Lauren Howard, your host, also known as L2—am pulling normal out of its gilded cage, shaking it around, and tossing it straight into the trash where it belongs.

If you’ve ever felt like you missed the memo on how to be “normal”… if you’re tired of feeling broken just because your flavors of weird don’t match up with someone else’s, this is the episode you didn’t know you needed.

I’m laying down the law (and maybe some four-letter words) about why chasing normal is a one-way ticket to nowhere—and why different isn’t just okay, it’s inevitable.

We’ll dig into the origin story of “normal” as a concept, how it creeps into our vocabularies starting in childhood, and why it’s a constant refrain for people going through autism and ADHD assessments.

(Plot twist: not fitting the mold isn’t a sign that you’re broken—it’s evidence that the mold is, frankly, garbage.)

But here’s where it gets interesting: even medicine doesn’t actually believe in a single flavor of normal!

And we'll get into that...

If that’s not a reason to click “play,” I don’t know what is.

Love you, mean it. –L2

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00:00 "What is Normal?"

03:09 Redefining 'Normal' in Childhood

06:37 Interpreting Lab Reference Ranges

10:32 "Comfy Sandals and Dog Dilemma"

15:55 "Embrace Your Own Normal"

17:29 Tense Meal and Nonsense Talk

20:27 "Questioning Nike Collection Value"

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People say things like "just be yourself" with the expectation that you’ll just snap your fingers and turn the volume down on generations of pressure to fit in.

But what does that even mean when your existence as 'yourself' stops conversations cold? When walking into every room means holding your breath, trying to shrink for comfort, or shapeshifting for someone else’s peace of mind? When you’re told your needs... your honest-to-goodness, human, biological and psychological needs... are either too much or entirely invisible?

This week, we’re going in. All the way in.

I sat down with Dr Carl Frizell, a phenomenal clinician, with his lived expertise in internal medicine, oncology, mental health and, yes, the absolute truth about thriving as a Black neurodivergent professional.

Carl joined me for a conversation about what it means to fight for belonging, to crave quality over quantity, to be different—and not broken—in every aspect of his life.

Want to talk intersectionality? Carl brings the receipts. Want to explore why so many Black and BIPOC kids are mis-labeled as “difficult” (or worse) instead of autistic? Or what happens when advocacy is weaponized against you?

Want to hear the story of a patient—"The Difficult One"—who was never the problem, but simply demanded her humanity be respected?

We’re covering all of it.

(And, yes, Carl really did become a better clinician because he lived every single word he now tells his patients.)

If you’ve ever questioned whether there’s space for your whole self, especially in systems built for someone else’s definition of acceptable—this is your episode.

Love you. Mean it.

Dr Carl Frizell's links:

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/cafrizell_pac/

00:00 Embracing Autism: My Turning Point

03:10 Neurodivergent Advocacy and Speaking Journey

08:01 Seeking Acceptance by Mimicry

12:55 Redefining "Normal" for Health

15:04 Clinical Judgment in Autism Diagnostics

19:20 Patient-Centered Caregiver Approach

23:10 Advocacy in Healthcare Matters

27:00 Supportive Parents Foster Success

29:30 Misdiagnosis Due to Cultural Bias

33:51 Humanizing Lived Experiences Validates Life

34:56 Embracing Whole Identity Acceptance

39:16 Embrace Self-Compassion and Growth

41:17 "Transparent Living on Instagram"

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