Hangin’ with Eric Osmond
Can destruction of life be a good thing? Eric certainly seems to think so. His life has been destroyed many times. His heart has broken so much that he was physically damaged. And yet through it, Eric expanded. He grew. He knew that the comfy little cottage he had created needed to be destroyed so that the mansion that was always him could grow. Eric is truly an artist. He has found passion in acting, music, body building, and pretty much anything that has captured his heart. Being an Osmond, he has known fame his entire life. But it never phased him. Instead of trying to steal the spotlight, he would go and talk to the people in the background, those that never had their voices heard. And he found profound meaning in giving back to the world. Eric’s music has touched those that have gone through the darkest despair and we are all lifted because of it. We had a poignant, deep conversation about life and the many ups and down he has personally gone through. But in his eyes, you can find peace. He is truly a warrior and I’m grateful to have had him on the podcast. Enjoy!
Get to Know Eric Osmond
Eric Osmond, born on January 2, 1991, in Utah, is a 2nd Generation Osmond, coming from a world-famous family of performers, The Osmond Family. He is the son of Jay Osmond and nephew to Donny and Marie Osmond.
He is well-known for his contributions to the world of entertainment. During Eric’s childhood, he took part in stage performing in Branson, Missouri, and travelled the world with his family on tour.
Eric studied at Utah Valley University in the field of speech communications between 2007 and 2020 and is also a qualified personal trainer.
Career
Eric’s full career experiences include the following:
- Osmond Commercial, Film Producer — June 2019 to present
- Actor (Film), Starz and Fx Management — September 2016 to present
- Osmond Fitness, Personal Trainer — January 2015 to present
- Entertainer — September 1991 to present
- Title Recruiter — Oct 2018 through June 2019
- Title Realtor — January 2012 through June 2019
His vast and extensive experience in a variety of roles makes him one to watch in any industry.
Entertainment Industry
Eric is most commonly known for his unique singing voice, electric personality, and muscular physique. He is enjoying a long career in the entertainment industry, including acting, music, and film production. His contributions can’t go unrecognized. You can check out many of Eric’s music video, motivational speeches, vlogs, and acting clips on his personal YouTube account.
With his developing love for acting, Eric continues to both perform and write his own music. His incredible talent is immediately recognizable. He is a natural when it comes to performing and excels in drama, comedy, and music. He has been involved in many different performing arts projects including acting — both in film and live improvisational character roles — and in electronic/alternative-rock bands as lead singer/musician.
You may know him from films such as Night of Adventure and Meanwhile in New York, as well as the series Andi-Mack, Bully Beatdown, and Yellowstone.
Other Skills
With additional skills in fitness training, real estate sales, motivational speaking, and owning his own commercial production company (Osmond Commercial), Eric also excels in business, life coaching, and presentation skills, drawing on his many life experiences, including suffering major life hardships both personally and economically the age of 28.
It is easy to see that Eric Osmond is an ambitious individual with a prosperous future. This actor, producer, singer, and role model is certainly someone who would worth be worth getting to know.
Eric Osmond Podcast Transcription
Charan: What’s going on, guys? This is Charan Prabhakar with the Lemonade Stand Stories podcast, and I’m here with a very delightful human being right across from me. His name is Eric Osmond. We had the pleasure of meeting a few years ago, and I’ll tell you what, Eric is a talented, talented individual, and I’m not just stroking his ego. He really is a talented individual. To me, Eric defines what a true artist is, because all the things that you do, whether it’s music, it’s film, bodybuilding for a bit, motivational speaking, you’ve just been a really positive light and a really encouraging… I don’t know, just a really good encouraging soul.
Charan: But I remember what was so cool was, we worked on a commercial together, and I feel like on that commercial that we really connected even more on a deeper level. And I remember being like, “Man, not only is Eric such a talented man; he’s got a real depth to him.” And from that depth, I know you’ve created all kinds of cool things and artistries and whatnot.
Charan: But then, and we’re going to go into this too, I was watching The Chosen, season 2, episode 4, and I got to see you in that, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, Eric’s also in The Chosen. This is fantastic.” We share that as well. Not the same episode, but anyway. So, it was really fun to see you in there and to see you do your… We were just discussing what kind of accent it was. It’s some sort of European accent. I’m not entirely sure what that was, but say it again. What would you call it?
Eric: The technical term was an attempt to hit Transatlantic, and it made a little change, but yeah.
Charan: Yeah, dude, it was amazing. But, dude, I really appreciate you being on the podcast. This has been so fun, and the Lemonade Stand Stories podcast is all about people’s lemonade stand story, so their beginnings into whatever entrepreneurship or creators or acting or producing or whatever it is. So, I’d love to hear your story, because I know your family were all entertainers. So, did you grow up thinking, “I’m going to be an entertainer as well”? Or was this something that you’re like, “I really want to do this because this is speaking to my soul”?
Eric: Great question. So, I was raised in the family, and as you said, as a normal person, but just naturally the “spotlight” was almost always on. There’s about 54 of us in the second generation. People don’t know the exact number, but that’s technically, roughly, I think, close to it. And we’re all assumed to be in the same spotlight as the first generation, and that’s not always accurate, especially when there’s only a handful of us in the second generation that carry on with the entertainment industry to a point.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Nothing like the first generation exactly. The one closest would probably be in Alan’s family. So, you got Nathan and David and some of us, like Tyler. Tyler’s also in Alan’s family. And I can name off a whole bunch of my cousins that still do it, but we were always assumed to be entertainers. So, we were kind of forced in a way to be in the spotlight. So, by choice and by not by choice.
Charan: Yes, by choice and by “not by choice.” But, dude, I don’t know, it’s so interesting, because I am friends with David and everything, but I remember when I met you, it was great because, in my mind, you didn’t typify what I remember Donny being or whatever. But you had your own brand. You have your own voice. When did you decide, “I want to be an artist?”
Eric: Oh, I think we’re all artists; only some of us admit it.
Charan: Oh, I like that.
Eric: Yeah.
Charan: That’s so great.
Eric: I don’t know. It just came out. Maybe that’s already said before by someone.
Charan: Dude, no, no, it was great. So, when did you admit to yourself you want to be an artist, that you are an artist?
Eric: As a kid, I mean, you immediately know when somebody says, “Oh, that’s really good. Wow, that’s really good.” Everybody has that kind of tone. As a child you’re playing with blocks and you’re like, “Oh man, this kid can make sand castles,” or something. All of a sudden, you’re just that kind of person. You’re meant to be a creator. And like I said, I believe everybody’s a creator. So, it doesn’t matter if it’s sandcastles or simply being able to have an art of a discussion or a conversation, the art of telling a joke. Anybody can be an artist because everything, I believe, is a form of art.
Eric Osmond Talks About Growing Up “Osmond”
Charan: Dude, that’s so great, and it’s true. I really believe that we were all meant to be creators of some sort, right? And when people own up to it and say, “Hey, you know what? I’m not going to walk the path that others have trod. I want to create my own thing and make my own path come to life,” it’s a beautiful thing to watch. Now, you have done a variety of things, and we were just talking a little bit about this before, but music and film have been kind of where you’ve landed as like, “This is kind of where I’m at.” So, would you say that your music career first was the thing that took off, or were you like, “I want to go into acting first,” or how did that all come about?
Eric: So, there’s a lot of twists and turns in my story.
Charan: Yeah. I’m excited.
Eric: Where to begin, where not to begin, where to kind of curve around those certain walls is an interesting path, but I think it’s easy to say that I did not want to be in the spotlight. And I’m not saying that I do; I do not consider myself famous by any means because today the word fame is a whole different ordeal. People can pay for fame. You can pay for a following. I mean, you can do whatever you can to hack the system to create this pseudo-fame in today’s world.
Eric: So, fame really doesn’t mean anything to me, especially growing up with it, because I was always in that spotlight. I couldn’t go to the grocery store with my dad, especially with any of my family without being, “Hey, can I get a photo?” Back in the day, we did a lot of autographs or my dad did a lot of autographs, and they would ask me as a kid, “Can you sign this too? I mean, your son, right?” “Yeah.” “Can you sign this as well?” And people have pictures of me as a child that they would post. And I never thought it was weird at all. I thought it was just normal life.
Eric: The rest of my family, some people who have grown up with that kind of circumstance, my family just seems to be very cool with it. But I’ve seen people who have in their second generations of their first-generation parent be very uncomfortable with that kind of spotlight. But for me, I just always thought was fun. So, I was not weirded out by somebody asking me for an autograph as a child or a photo with my dad because that was every time I went out in public with him.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Almost every day.
Charan: Well, it’s interesting, because we were talking about, I don’t know, child actors or people that kind of grew up with fame and it really gets to their head. I have a good friend of mine, Alexa Vega. She’s in the Spy Kids movies and stuff like that. And we did a movie together, and I remember talking to her, and I was asking her, “Hey, you’ve been in tons of movies since you were a little kid. How do you stay grounded?” And she came from very Christian parents and she’s a Christian herself, and her parents would not let her get away with anything just like because, “Oh, I’m famous now” or anything like that. But what about yourself? How were you able to stay grounded when the whole world in a sense was kind of looking at you guys?
Eric: Oh, great question. Being grounded is something that can either be taught or is just kind of ingrained in who you are as a person, I think. As a kid, one of my cousins told me, she’s like, “You’re not like the rest of us, are you?” And I was like, “What do you mean like that?” She’s like, “It doesn’t get to your head. You’re just like a normal dude.” And I was like, “Oh.” I got to admit a funny thing. “Oh no, you’re just silly because it’s fine.” But to me, it’s just like it’s a regular thing to be considered someone, “Oh, that person’s in the room. Let me give them attention.” Well, I’m always wanting to give that person who’s not talking in the room attention. Like the camera guys here, him over there, him over there. His name is Branson. That’s my hometown growing up. I’m going to address that he’s in the room and then he’s in the room and we’re here. I don’t just see you. I see everybody in the room, and the one person who doesn’t talk, I’m going to go talk to that person.
Eric: So, that makes me somewhat, according to my cousin, from that conversation a long time ago, we were on a cruise ship when that happened. And like I said, that’s a cruise ship where my dad was entertaining on that cruise ship. There was a lot of hype going on. Everyone wants to talk and I’m over there talking to the person who’s quiet. You learn about their life story, why they’re in pain, how can I bring up that level of energy in the room, because there’s a dip in the room and I feel it, and I want to go over there and-
Charan: And elevate it.
Eric: …with a microphone and go talk to that person because they’re not feeling as uplifted as everybody else. So, I want to kind of feel what’s going on and equalize that energy if I can.
Charan: Dude, that’s a really interesting and a beautiful way of living life, because it’s true. You see a lot of inequality in the earth among people and everything.
Eric: Tons of it.
Charan: Right?
Eric: Yeah.
Charan: And it’s very interesting, because, see, I came from India. I was born there and I saw a ton of it. I saw a ton of it. And I always remember thinking like, “Well, what is it about me that…” My family happened to have a little bit of money so that we could come to America, whereas right outside of my house were tons and tons of people living in cardboard boxes. So, it’s a very interesting dichotomy to see the inequality of the human race sometimes. And it’s cool that you’re able to recognize that and say, “Hey, you know what? In this room, that person isn’t loved enough, or that person is too quiet.” And maybe they choose to be quiet and that’s totally fine.
Eric: I’ve been wrong many times about that.
Eric Osmond Talks About What Draws Him to the Art
Charan: Yeah. But other times, it’s like they would love to feel loved, too, and they would love to feel the sense of like, “Oh my gosh. If someone came and cared for me.” That’s just a beautiful way to live life and approach life. And I think it’s very empowering. So, I love that about you, man. That’s awesome. It’s interesting, though, because we were talking about different music and artistry and all these types of things, because you said it’s become kind of normal to you. What is it about the art that has drawn you in then?
Eric: So, I will say this, there was a time where I was growing up and had my childhood and traveling the world. I can’t tell how many countries I’ve been to as a kid. That’s a prideful thing somebody could say, but for me, I’m just saying, literally, I’ve been to so many airports. I haven’t actually experienced outside of the airport of a lot of places, but I’ve been all around the world. Then you have this chapter of being in rock bands in my teenage years, my early twenties. And then you have this kind of dip where I went into this seven-year period of just doing real estate. I learned about sales and I left everything because I learned at that point, I mean, I never wanted to do it as a profession. I made two albums before I was 21 and I distributed them out. I’ve since pulled them back, and if anybody has those albums, let me know. I’ll get them from you.
Charan: Please.
Eric: They’re collector’s items now. Somebody messaged me that they have one. That was pretty cool. So, anyway, I had this period of time where I did not do music, art, anything. I literally stepped on my personality, stepped on my soul to make money.
Charan: Interesting.
Eric: I made over a hundred thousand dollars by the time I was in the mid-twenties, cash. I had it. And I was like, “Okay, great. Now I can literally disappear.”
Charan: Is that what you wanted to do?
Eric: I wanted to disappear. I wanted to just like, “I’ve got the money. I can kind of…” I had a hundred thousand dollars, a few years ago was okay for a 20-year-old. And I was ready to go. I’ve since had some dark stuff happened since then where I no longer am in that position. But I was in this place where money was my focus. And so, I had a life change. Something happened to me where I was back on stage, and all of a sudden, back into the same spotlight. I couldn’t leave it. There was a time when I finally said, “Okay, I’m going to quit real estate. I’m going to do that.” And I counted it as in the Bible, the number seven has a thing. There’s seven days in a week. There’s always seven this.
Charan: Sure.
Eric: I had seven times where God came into my life. If I may say God, if I may say-
Charan: Please, please. We’re very open to talk about God on this podcast, so yeah.
Eric: Okay, cool. So, I mean, we were on The Chosen.
Charan: We were on The Chosen.
Eric: Yeah. But seven times God came into my life and said, “No, you need to do music.”
Charan: Really?
Eric: “You need to be back into this spotlight.” And I’m like, “There is no money in the spotlight,” having made good money in my twenties, and now I’m 30 now. I’m not going to say I’m super old, but hopefully, it doesn’t show on camera.
Charan: You look wonderful, yeah.
Eric: So are you, so are you.
Charan: I’m 40 though. There you go. There you go.
Eric: You look great. You look great. Wow.
Charan: Thanks, man, yeah.
Eric: And either way, what I’m saying is, is that something happened where I had to make a life change, and I’m sure we’ve all had those things in our life, where we thought we were going one way. And I will tell you this. One of my favorite things that I quoted from something I heard in church actually, but maybe I didn’t even hear it in church. It was one of those things that you hear in church, and it was a buddy of mine. Hopefully, I don’t know if I can say his name on this, but he’s doing some big stuff right now. And he and I were backstage and he was like, “Eric,” because we’ve done a few gigs together. And he said, “Eric, I’m afraid that I’m doing the wrong thing with my life.”
Charan: Oh wow. Okay.
Eric: And I said, “Let me tell you something I heard in church recently. And I hope I’m not misquoting this, but if you think you’re doing something in life to pull off God’s plan for you, let me tell you something. You’re not that powerful.” In other words, you can’t do something without God keeping hitting you, hitting you, hitting you, because you’re not dead yet. We’re all going to die someday, surprise. But the idea is that you are here for a reason. You’re here to accomplish certain things, and God is going to do the best way possible by influencing somebody else, even me with him backstage, with this guy, to just say that to him, because he said it shocked him. And then, he kept going on the path that he was going for. I’m excited to see him every time he makes a post and stuff, what he’s doing with his life now because he was at that kind of point, it seemed, to do [crosstalk 00:14:49].
Charan: Like crossroads.
Eric: Yeah. And I mean, I don’t want to speak for him, but if he’s watching, but there are those moments where you feel like you might screw up your life plan, and that’s not the case. I don’t think that’s on your path.
Charan: Dude, that’s powerful, man, because even me, I decided very early, I would say early twenties, so I was like, “I want to go into acting. That’s what I want to do as my path.” And I very quickly realized I can’t be a musician because I don’t know how to do music, but I was like, “No, acting, that’s my thing. That’s my jam, and I love it, and it’s so fun.” But it was very interesting because there are times I’ve definitely wanted to give up. There are times I’ve been like, “Dude, I’m not making any money at all doing this thing. Why am I still doing this thing?” And then it was like, “Well, I’m not finding…” I don’t know. I had all these narratives in my head like, “Oh, I didn’t make enough money, I don’t know if I’ll be able to support a family if I get married,” and yada, yada, yada, all these different types of things.
Charan: But at the end of the day, I remember constantly being led back to this path that I’m on and realizing, hey, you know what? That plan, whatever that plan is that God has for me, it is so powerful that he’s going to make a way for things to fulfill themselves and be awesome. And I just have to keep with it and keep doing things. And it’s interesting, because the last few years, things have gone well for me financially, and things have been picked up, and I’m like, “Wow.” I felt like I was in the bleakest of times in LA, and then things kind of worked out. And it’s so interesting for me to hear from you that like, “Yeah, I did real estate and I thought I was just going to disappear.” And now all of a sudden, God’s like, “Nope, you’re doing music, buddy. You got to go back to it?” So, that’s an interesting story, man. I love that. I love to hear that.
Eric: I’m glad you’re still with us in this artistic world. Look at what you’re doing, man. This is great.
Charan: Dude, well, you know what? Here’s the funny thing. This happened because of COVID. Can you believe that?
Eric: I didn’t.
Charan: I started to do Zoom podcasts just for fun because the entire industry kind of stopped and I just did it for fun. And all of a sudden, one of the people I interviewed happens to be the owner of this digital marketing agency, Lemonade Stand, and they’re like, “Charan, why don’t you come and do the podcast for us?” I’m like, “Well, I don’t know. I mean, I’m having so much success uploading my Zoom podcast on my Facebook and getting 12 views, 13 views.” He’s like, “Yeah, that sounds promising. Come and do this for me.” I’m like, “All right, sounds good.” And so, I came here and I’m doing this. So, it was an interesting thing where I just did this because I wanted to. It felt authentic to me and then it turned out to be an awesome, fun thing.
Eric: You’re good at it.
Eric Osmond Talks About The Chosen
Charan: Oh, well, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. So, I kind of want to talk a little bit about some of your, I guess, acting roles because I was so stoked to see you on The Chosen, and The Chosen‘s been such a big, big thing that everyone knows about. Can you talk a little bit about your story of how you got involved in that production and how that all came to be?
Eric: The Chosen. Who has not seen The Chosen? Okay, awesome. You’ve all seen it. It’s an amazing show.
Charan: Yes.
Eric: Well, it was such an honor. I’m going to start off with that. What an honor to be involved, even at the extent that I was, and from what you told me, I’m excited to see your scene coming up.
Charan: Thank you, man. Thank you.
Eric: Your part there. And even though we have our parts, and it’s just awesome to be part of something much bigger than ourselves. Like in our gigs, like in acting and stuff, we can be the lead in a feature film or something, and that’s a different energy than it was to just play a part in kind of the Savior’s life, you could say, in a way through this production and kind of around it.
Eric: And so, the way that I got on The Chosen was just like everybody else. You audition. And with my part, I auditioned, and my manager Michelle was like, “Dallas wants you to audition for this part.” And I asked my assistant Pepper, who’s here today at studio, and she’s like, “Well, we can do that too.” And there’s a different character entirely. And I’m like, “Do I look the part? Can I sound that part?” So, that’s a different character. And then they asked me to do a different one. So, I auditioned three different times for different characters. I guess I can say it now, the first two were just soldiers. And so, we were studying, we were watching the episodes, and we were looking at it. Some of them have accents and some of them don’t.
Charan: Right.
Eric: I’m like, “Okay, that’s a very American accent. And that’s very English. That’s kind of more Transatlantic as far as the very close-together English and that…” We’ll talk about that in a second. But I got the role of Petronius, which is this “first of its kind” character in the series. I didn’t see any other character like this, and I was expecting to be a Roman soldier. So, I walk in there expecting to talk just like another Roman guard. And I had a conversation with the dialect coach and she said, “Transatlantic. If you can do it, do it because not everybody is doing it.” When she’s like, “I’ve been asking them to do it and they’re not doing it.”
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: And so, I said, “Oh, I can do Transatlantic.” Transatlantic sounds similar to English. It’s very similar. She’s like, “No, no, don’t be too English. Transatlantic is a proper way of speaking on stage. Weren’t you a stage actor?” And I was like, “No, I did not do stage acting. I did improv comedy in character form, and I did pranks on people.”
Charan: Great.
Eric: But I did a lot of different stuff. So, more like rock music, and I can do an accent and do these sort of things. So, anyway, long story short, I get this role of being this… What was it, Peps? Well-fed Roman. That was the set-up. Patronius is a well-fed, well-dressed Roman. So, I show up expecting to be… What does “well-dressed, well-fed” mean? And I dress up in this pompous outfit, and then I come out of the thing and I’m talking to everyone on set, “Oh, I’m sorry, you put that down, put that back.” And it’s just this English. I took on this English role of this pompous, if that’s the right word for it, kind of Transatlantic/English kind of person in accent. And so, everybody on set thought I was from Europe.
Charan: Dude, so great. I Love this thing.
Eric: As soon as the method thing hi,t because I’m very method. Everybody wants to say, “I’m so method. I never break character.” I never broke character.
Charan: Dude, that’s amazing.
Eric: Except for when Jonathan himself came out and met me, I was in the midst of breaking character while I had my conversation with him, because he thought I was from Europe and from England. And anyway, that’s a different story. I had to walk with Jesus.
Charan: You had to walk with Jesus.
Eric: I literally had to walk with Jonathan down to set to say goodbye to Dallas because I wanted to just do my part and leave. I didn’t want to cause a stir.
Charan: Sure.
Eric: He was like, “Did you say goodbye to Dallas and everybody?” And I said, “No, I didn’t. I didn’t want to disturb anybody.” He’s like, “Everybody wants to meet. We want to make sure that we know who you really are.” And so we went and I said goodbye to Dallas. Anyway, so he walked me back to the set. But this is a long answer to your simple question. I apologize.
Charan: No, no, please. This is amazing.
Eric: And I met people from VidAngel there. I think it was the owners of VidAngel.
Charan: Like Jeff and Neal or who was it?
Eric: Somebody high up and I think it was a wife of… I didn’t catch their names because I was so busy just talking to everyone. I didn’t catch their names. But they were awesome. They were so funny. They wanted pictures with me. They were giggling. They’re like, “Where you from?” And I would just play it off and then keep going because nobody knew who I really was, and that was the funniest part about it.
Charan: I love that, dude.
Eric: And so, I never broke character on set that entire day. And I remember Dallas coming up to me, he said, “Do you know why you got the role?” And I said, “Why?” He’s like, “Because you didn’t overdo it.”
Charan: So, he’s serious?
Eric: I’m like, “Am I overdoing it?” He’s like, “No, no, no. I like it. But I mean, it’s a different flair. I didn’t even know you would look like this.” I was like, “I don’t know either. I thought I’d be a guard.” So, I broke accent, broke character just to talk to him real quick. So, he’s like, “I like this. Okay. Keep doing what you’re doing. We’re going to make this work.” So, I played it up and did this, “Oh I don’t like this place.” I kind of picked up the characteristics of Matthew because Matthew is kind of more detailed. And so, I want it to be like, “This place is gross,” and that kind of thing. So, that’s kind of what happened. It just happened. I don’t know. I loved what they did with it, the editing. Hopefully, I gave them what they wanted. I was worried about it.
Charan: Dude, no, I know, I know. It’s such a nerve-wracking thing, right, being on that production, because you get on set and you’re like, “Oh my gosh.” It’s like, “I don’t want to let anybody down.” You know?
Eric: Yeah.
Charan: I want to go and do what I did. And the thing was with me, I got the part the night before we started shooting it.
Eric: I think I hear something like that. They said there’s [crosstalk 00:23:05].
Charan: Yeah, yeah. Dallas was mentioning that and it was kind of a crazy thing, but yeah. And the same thing, a lot of times when I do an accent, they’re like, “Hey, can you do an accent?” They’re asking for an Indian accent. So, I’m like, “Oh, that’s mighty racist of you, but sure, I absolutely can. Absolutely, I can.”
Eric: Geez.
Charan: But this was more of a Hebrew type of accent. And so, it was an interesting thing. For me, I was thankful that just being around the actors who have used this accent quite a bit, I’m like, “Okay, yeah, I can kind of nail it a little bit.”
Eric: Yeah, you pick up on it.
Charan: Yeah, I picked up on it and I was able to do it. And I probably shouldn’t talk too much about it just because my episode hasn’t come up, but it is coming up in a couple episodes.
Eric: I’m so excited to see you in it.
Charan: It’ll be so fun. I’m very, very, very excited. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Eric Osmond Talks About Enduring Through Challenges
Charan: So, it’s awesome. Now, one of the big things with the Lemonade Stand Stories podcast, and this is a podcast that’s meant to empower youth, meant to empower young people because so many people have dreams and whatnot. And if we know anything, last year was a brutal year for a lot of people, and they felt the weight of it. They felt isolated. They felt depressed. And so, one of the biggest things we love to do is to talk about things that have gone on in our own lives that have been heavy and how we got through it, like our own lemonade stand stories, our own time when the lemons hit us pretty hard, and we were like, “I’ve got to figure out a way to get out of this and how do I change my mindset? How do I change my philosophy?”
Charan: So, I’d love to talk if you’re open to it about any instance in your life where you’re like, “That was a hard blow. That was a tough blow. But yeah, I’m going to get through this and I’m going to be stronger because of it.” And how did you get through it?
Eric: I got to be careful what I say here with demons, but it would be a lie to think that this life is easy.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: It can be considered simple in some ways. Get up, go to sleep every single day until you’re done, but it’s not easy. I believe everybody is here to experience both the good and the bad, because otherwise how can we chisel our characters and become who we’re supposed to be? I believe we have a destiny. We have a vision to essentially obtain whatever, wherever that comes from, whether from you or inspiration or from somebody. I mean, the idea is that we’re all trying to strive. Hopefully, we’re all trying to strive to be someone or like something. And in the course of achieving anything, there’s always going to be hardship, opposition in all things as it’s said. I’m not going to get emotional. I’m going to hold that in if I can.
Charan: Sure.
Eric: If I do, it’s all good. We’ll cry on camera. We do that. We’re paid to do that.
Charan: We’re paid to do this, yeah.
Eric: And the best part about it is, if we’re good at crying on camera… I remember once I cried for… Was it five or six hours, Peps? Five, in between there, literally, I’m not exaggerating, on set for a production because it said that in the script. And so, in between the takes, there was so many people on there, and I was crying for five hours, and I was just drinking water and kept going. Everybody thought I was just freaking out, but it was great. I just kept it cool.
Charan: Wow.
Eric: You’ve done that, right? No drops? No mixture?
Charan: I have to do the drops, man.
Eric: Oh, okay.
Charan: I got to use drops.
Eric: I can get there.
Charan: I have a hard time because I don’t cry that much in real life.
Eric: Oh, I cry all the time.
Charan: Yeah. That’s amazing, dude. I need to be able to cry more.
Eric: It’s all good, man.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: There are people who can help with that.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Charan: Yeah, yeah, maybe I need to talk to those people.
Eric: Yeah. No, no, no, no.
Charan: Okay.
Eric: No, usually I believe trauma is the best source of artistry, in my opinion. Why else would we create these monuments if something had no impact and usually impacts are, I believe, I think there’s the horse that’s motivated by pain or the dog who’s chasing something just because it’s there. Most of us are motivated by pain. And so, a typical artist in generalities, if I may say, were motivated by pain and the best songs, the most relatable songs are those (singing “You just want attention”) Charlie Puth. And you’ve got, what was the other one? Gotye. You know?
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: How’s that go? How’s that go? You guys singing? Sing me some Gotye. How’s that go?
Charan: Oh man, I don’t know any Gotye. Yeah.
Eric: But am I saying that right? I don’t even know if I’m saying it right. But all songs are motivated by pain. You can sing any song… Not all songs. A lot of songs are motivated by pain. And so, loss and I’ve had loss to the point of… Okay. I’ve had loss to the point of bubbling up over my chest. I had a heartbreak once from somebody who… I won’t speak negatively, but somebody hurt me really bad. And it kept happening over and over, a heartbreak situation, so much so that I was put in an emergency clinic for a bit there, having surgery to cut me open because I was bubbling up over my chest.
Charan: So, physically.
Eric: Physically.
Charan: There was a physical reaction.
Eric: The doctor came, so the next day, he said, “Mr Osmond, I can’t explain it.” And I’m sitting there with a patch on my chest and just gushing out this weird pus and blood. I have the scar to prove it. He’s like, “Nothing happened to you. And from what you told me, this is a physical manifestation of a heartbreak.”
Charan: Wow.
Eric: And so, I’ve been through crazy stuff. I’ve had jaw surgeries. My entire face has been ripped off. I’ve got scars here. I’ve got scars here. So, I have reminders every time I look in the mirror of what I’ve been through in life that I can pull from for lyrics, that I can pull from for trying to cry on set. I can use all of that for energy. The question is, well, you don’t want to be too negative energy, but you’ve harnessed that, and you can use that for anything now. I can do a really dramatic scene. There was another scene where I was in the mountains. It was a death scene. I was being shot. Every single person on that set was like, “Are you okay, dude?” Because I had to step away and cry it out and then come back. That’s what we do as actors. We have to go there.
Charan: We have to, yeah.
Eric: You just pull from those things. It’s no problem, but we get over it. I mean, that’s a thing.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: That’s life. That’s life.
Charan: But that’s what it is. It’s interesting, when you have these incredibly traumatic things that happen and you’re like, “How do you break out of this and how do you make it come out the other side and become positive and whatnot?” I mean, I think about my life and like anybody, I’ve had my own fair share of grief. I’ve had a lot of people close to me pass away, and that’s been its own level of grief and pain.
Eric: Completely.
Charan: I’ve had parents divorce multiple times. And so, when you kind of go through some of these things, and you have these weird emotional kind of bonds, it’s very interesting. I haven’t been that public with it, but my grandpa, he’s probably going to pass away in a couple of days or something. He’s my mom’s dad and we’re very close to him. And it’s very interesting, because grief and trauma, it’s interesting what happens to me when we get faced with these types of things, because everyone, I feel like, reacts differently to this type of stuff. I react in a very eerily calm way. And I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s some sort of mechanism or something, but I sometimes feel this need to say, “Okay, you know what? I’m going to go ahead and just focus and figure out what are the logistical things that need to happen right now, and how do I solve the issues that are in front of my face.”
Charan: But we were talking about weeping and crying. For whatever reason, when I do cry or I do allow myself to weep, it takes a long time for me. It’s like it’s so bottled down, it’s almost like there’s a subconscious thing saying, “No, you can’t weep. You’re a guy.” Because I’ve been told that a lot too from [crosstalk 00:31:10].
Eric: No, that’s such a lie.
Charan: It’s a lie.
Eric: We’ve been told that.
Charan: We’ve been told that.
Eric: We have to discover this for ourselves, yeah.
Charan: And so, we have to discover this for ourselves. And so, I would unhealthily not grieve.
Eric: It’s healing now. The brain literally heals when you cry.
Charan: It’s so healing. Right?
Eric: Yeah.
Charan: So, it’s almost like I have to go to my own private place away from the entire world, and only then do I feel safe, when nobody else is around, to grieve.
Eric: Yeah. And even then you hear a bird, you’re like, “Oh, is someone going to see me now?”
Charan: And I’m like, “Wait a minute. Oh Shoot. What’s going on? I got dust in my eye. Don’t look at me.” Because it’s like this weird thing, but yeah. We were talking about art and everyone’s an artist. I think there’s actually an art to grieving. [crosstalk 00:31:52] And when you’re actually able to authentically grieve, especially the pain that you went through, would you say that that was the thing that helped heal you from some of the trauma that you had in the past?
Eric: The grieving part of it?
Charan: Part of the grieving was as a healing factor.
Eric: I think we have to agree. There’s a cycle of… What’s it called? There’s a grieving cycle, a loss cycle, cycle of loss where part of that is grieving. And then the other part is coming to terms with it. The first one is shock and it’s not really happening, whatever the case. That there’s a cycle for it so grieving is part of that, absolutely.
Charan: Yeah. Well, it’s an interesting thing because you and I were talking about some of the music that you’ve been writing and some of the albums that are about to come out, and you were saying that “a lot of this is from my own trauma and my own pain, but I’m so excited to share this with the world because I really feel that it’s going to impact other people, and it’s going to help resonate with other people.” How is that going to do that?
Eric: So, I released one of the songs way early on, about four years ago now, four years ago now. And it had a really great response on social media really fast. And when that happens, usually that’s a really amazing video or really something people are-
Charan: Connecting to.
Eric: Hey, is this person okay?
Charan: Oh.
Eric: Connected to it or it’s shocking. Somehow, it kind of went minimally viral in my own world. And I used that video to relate to so many people. I remember in the sauna, I showed the video to somebody. I just had a feeling I had to show, “Hey, do you need to hear this song?” And I showed the song, and they looked at it, and they just started crying next to me in the sauna.
Charan: Oh my gosh.
Eric: I didn’t need say anything. This is me screaming and I’m crying in this song. I’m going full out in this track. And I took it down.
Charan: You took it down.
Eric: Took it down because it was about someone ghosting me. You ever been ghosted?
Charan: Oh dude, it’s like the story of my life.
Eric: Oh man, it’s a thing.
Charan: It’s the story of my life. I’m like, “Dude, it’s like…”
Eric: Oh, it’s so dark.
Charan: It’s like that Sixth Sense movie, “I see dead people.” I feel like I see them all the time because they just ghost me, left and right. Yeah, yeah. It’s the story of my life, but yes. Yes. Go for it.
Eric: And this song will come back out and it is about that. Yes, it’s that feeling, that heaviness that’s like, “Ah, I thought we had a future.”
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: And I have no closure, still.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: And so, I’m like, “You know what? This is a perfect way to share that art.” And I have the original vocals. We’ve already got it mastered and everything, and waiting for one more track to be finalized before we can release that album. And then we have the remix of that song by a producer, Danny Demosi, a good friend of mine. He did most of the music that’s distributed because, like I said, I pulled out my two albums before. That’s like 28 tracks. And now, I just have my songs currently, and one of them is with the band that has that song in it. There are these two albums that are going to come out soon that will have those really wrecked vibes of just loss and being ghosted and destruction of what it is. And it’s all true story. So, I got to be careful when it comes on.
Charan: Well, you know what’s so interesting? Man, that topic of ghosting is such an interesting topic because just recently, and mostly it deals with relationships or dating or whatever. And there have been several girls that we connect and it’s like, “Oh my gosh, this is great. This is awesome.” And then next thing you know, nothing. And I’m like, “Wait, what happened here?” At first, I was kind of like… I know this is going to sound weird. I mean, at first, I was heartbroken and bummed. I’m like, “Am I not worth it? What’s going on?” All this stuff. And then the narratives that go on in your head of like, “Oh man, I need to overcompensate. I need to do more or whatever it is. What do I need to do to be better?”
Eric: I totally did that.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Yes.
Charan: And then I go into this phase of anger. I’m like, “They don’t deserve me.” All this type of stuff.
Eric: That loss cycle, yeah.
Charan: Yeah. But then finally, I kind of got to this point, and I was talking to a friend about it. And then he was telling me, he’s like, “Listen, you’re a great guy. And if you’re getting ghosted, that shows a sign of their own emotional immaturity and their inability to function.” And if you’re getting ghosted in the early stages, could you imagine being in an actual relationship or marriage for instance, and all of a sudden, they decided, ‘I’m going to check out. This isn’t for me”? Because the truth is relationships, friendships, everything is based on choice. Right? And people have to make the choice. And if you make the choice, but the other person doesn’t make the choice, it’s just never going to work. And you can’t do any sort of forcing or any sort of manipulation to make it that way because if you do, then you will always know that that relationship was never authentic and you would never want to be in that anyway.
Charan: Anyway, those are all the things that I started learning about and thinking about for myself. And I kind of came to this certain peaceful place with it where, right now, it’s so weird ,because even recently I got ghosted by someone and I said, “But you know what? It’s okay. It’s okay. It just goes to show that’s where that person is in their life, but I can be at peace because I’m at peace with myself anyway with that person going to come in or not.” But I will also admit, it becomes very harder if you have actually formed a pretty solid relationship and everything and then it happens.
Eric: Or what you thought was a solid relationship.
Charan: Or what you thought was a solid relationship and it happened. And that happened to me, and yeah, it’s a very challenging situation when it happens. And it’s weird, because I remember an instance that it happened to me, and then she went on to get married to somebody else. But what was interesting was now I look back and I’m like, “You know what? I am so grateful that everything kind of transpired the way that it did.” Kind of like thinking about God’s plan and thinking about how much the Lord knows us and everything. It makes me very grateful because I realized, wow, even in the last several years, I’ve developed into a certain type of person that maybe I wouldn’t have resonated with the person that I was seeking after before.
Eric: You have to change to [crosstalk 00:38:22].
Charan: But how have you been able to deal with those types of things, other than writing epic music?
Eric: Oh, I didn’t do that alone. There was a lot of help with that.
Charan: Sure.
Eric: But no man’s an island, of course. We’ll throw that in there. But with that, just to recap what you were just saying about the ghosting thing, we’re living in a world right now where commitment is not really a thing.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: We don’t need to be committed because if you dump me or you ghost me kind of thing, they would say, “I can find somebody with a swipe.” And they’re like, “I can heal.” Like you said, overcompensating. I remember when I went through this trauma, this time, I mean physical, the crazy stuff happening, and there was even further trauma that happened where I lost all my money. That’s a different story. That all happened about the same time. And to compensate for that darkness, I had to be in the spotlight. I had to say, “Hey, I’m valuable. You know what? Forget all of the judgments. Forget all of your judgments. I’m going to become who you guys already assumed that I’m going to be.” I couldn’t go anywhere without anybody thinking, “Oh, it’s an Osmond. You’re going to go sing for me on my birthday?” Made a little video on that. It was my first video, “Happy Birthday in the Elevator.” You’re talking about compensating and dealing with this mindset of today and with art, that can help with that, absolutely.
Eric: So, we all have those songs that… Well, first of all, we know where we were. If you pick a song from some time in your past, you know where you were geographically and what you were going through at that time. So, when you hear that song again, psychologically, you are reminded immediately, a sense memory or per se, of what was happening. So, that song is now a stamp in your life, and you can always go back to that song. We all have songs like that, of I know exactly where I was, what I was doing when I listened to that song before. So, if I want to relive that, I can do that. And I made that song that we’re talking about that’s coming back out. I used that song to, first, to get to practicing to crying and connecting with the character on film. So, that’s how art has helped me to match those emotions where needed [crosstalk 00:40:19].
Charan: Gosh, it’s so interesting. That whole topic you’re saying of overcompensating for darkness. That’s an interesting thing. And I love what you’re saying about how commitment is not a thing anymore.
Eric: It’s not.
Charan: It’s not. It’s very interesting. Look, my grandparents, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about them, and we were looking at old photos just yesterday. It was reliving experiences from my grandparents’ life and everything. My grandma was 16 when she got married, and my grandpa was like, I don’t know, eight years older. So what was that? 24. He’s now 88 and she’s 80. And it’s so interesting, because look at the majority of her life has been with him. And they have learned what true commitment is. And they just stick together. That’s just what life is. You just, you’re with each other and you’re helping each other out. And it’s funny, because some people ask, “Charan, do you have commitment issues?” And I’m like, “Well, I have issues feeling like I’m going to be safe in a relationship. So, maybe I’m scared to commit unless I know I’m safe.”
Eric: I see.
Charan: But do I have commitment issues? I don’t think I do. I think I would be able to be committed if I feel like this is the person I want to commit to if that makes sense. But it’s very interesting because our society is in a place where for whatever reasons, we’re like, “Hey, oh, you’re done. Well, I’ll just go ahead and swipe somebody else.” And most are going to cut you off immediately. Why do you think we’re in that place right now?
Eric: I feel honestly that a lot of it to blame would be technology and how fast it is. So, I was just talking with someone today earlier about how the attention span, of course, has gone. ADHD is a thing. I have ADHD all over the place. And I’m using that for my industry. If we could be ADHD and be creative, and then we’re hired to be like that, that’s great. If we’re entertaining, we’re talking. But the reason that I feel that we’re all over the place is because again, there’s no need for commitment. We can easily get anything we want really fast. We don’t have to have patience. Patience was a thing back then. We had to wait for stuff. What’s waiting? If I wait for a second, if it’s loading, you have loading issues with your phone, “Ah, I’m done.” You put your phone away. You’re doing something else immediately. There’s no muscle with patience because patience is a muscle. Yeah. I think, if anybody relates to that, that’s just-
Charan: Dude, well, there was this joke I heard of this comedian was saying, and I was dying laughing. He said he lived in a world where he had to wait 10 years to watch every episode of Friends. I’m like, “Oh, dude, that’s amazing.” He was like, “Nowadays, it’s like, ‘Oh dude, you just stream it.'” It’s like, “Wait, what?”
Eric: Yeah.
Charan: So, yeah, there was a moment where, okay, great. You enjoyed it, now you got to wait. Now you got to just do these things. Now, it’s instant gratification, instant gratification. And if you’re not instantly gratified by this thing, I’m looking for the next shiny object. I’m going to look for the next shiny object.
Eric: I’m going to say it. I’m going to say it. Gen Z.
Charan: Dude.
Eric: I said it, bro.
Charan: You went for it.
Eric: Okay. We’re going to fist bump on that. Just kidding. [crosstalk 00:43:42].
Charan: Dude, yeah.
Eric: Okay, yeah. All right. Make an awkward experience.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. And I believe the majority of Gen Z generation, if I may speak as a whole, my friends who are Gen Z are lower energy than my Millennial friends.
Charan: Interesting, yeah. Yeah.
Eric: We went outside. We played games. We actually hung out and socialized. We actually had a healthier lifestyle. Gen Z, they’re starting to go down with their health. I mean, I do personal training, is one of my things and bodybuilding stuff, and I help people with their physiques. Sometimes those younger clients are a little less motivated and I’ve called them out.
Charan: No.
Eric: I’m like, “Dude, your parent wants me to get you to a place. I want to make sure you want to get to that place.” And since then, we’ve had a much better connection with some clients. But yeah, it’s just, it’s a general thing.
Charan: It’s an interesting mindset, dude.
Eric: Yeah.
Charan: It’s a very interesting mindset, and it always makes me wonder, I’m like, “Dude, I think we need to really practice the art of not being on technology.”
Eric: Oh, that is an art, to stay away from that thing like that. If you can stay away from this thing, just let it go and just let it kind of… Wow. I can’t even… Hang on, come back here. I need the attention. Post, swipe, everything. I need it. I can’t have it.
Charan: I’m telling you and I’m not even a Millennial. I’m right on the cusp. Right? And I remember the internet was barely coming out when I was in high school. I don’t remember it being like-
Eric: Yes. MySpace.
Charan: Yeah, and emails were coming out and I’m asking my dad about this. I’m like, “Dad, do you think anyone’s even going to use this? This is ridiculous.”
Eric: “That’s stupid.”
Charan: “This is the dumbest thing.”
Eric: Websites.
Charan: And when I would call girls, I’d have to go talk to their parents first.
Eric: I remember that.
Charan: I had to call their landlines. We had a rotary phone. People don’t even know how to use the rotary phone.
Eric: Prank call. Prank calls, remember those things?
Charan: Of course.
Eric: People didn’t know who you were. It was so much fun.
Charan: It was so much fun. Now we live in a world where we can’t prank call each other.
Eric: Yeah, caller ID.
Charan: It’s very upsetting, very upsetting. Dude, this has been so amazing. I appreciate you being on this podcast. You’re amazing.
Eric: You’re amazing.
Charan: Come on, you’re amazing.
Eric: You’re amazing.
Charan: So, okay. We’ll both be amazing. That sounds good. I just want to kind of wrap things up a little bit by asking a couple final questions.
Eric: Sure.
Eric Osmond Talks About Joy
Charan: What is your greatest source of joy right now?
Eric: My greatest source of joy is probably being with those that I love.
Charan: I love that.
Eric: I mean, when you are around people who understand you, then you don’t have to be anybody else.
Charan: I love that.
Eric: And in a world right now where there’s such facades and just, it’s fake.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Whether that’s Photoshop or you do a video and it’s funny, “Ah, let’s do it again. It wasn’t real.” “Ah, but it was more authentic the first time.” It’s like this, now you have to pretend to be yourself.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: So if you can, like you said, remove the technology for a second, and be around people that you love and that love you and understand you, and you’re not judged, you’re cool, everything’s fine, and then you can actually feel life and touch this thing called life.
Charan: Yeah, dude, I frigging love that. I mean, my nephew is 18 months old now. He’s such a cute little guy. And just this morning, he and I were playing together, and we went outside, and he was sitting in the dirt, and picking rocks up and showing me, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” And it was just so cool to see the wonder in his eyes as he discovered a twig, as he discovered a rock.
Eric: Those were the days.
Charan: I know, dude. And he found a box. I don’t know how he found this box, and he picked it up, and he sort of picking up his rock and his favorite items, and started putting it in the box. And I’m just watching him being like, “Oh my gosh, he’s got complete fullness of joy right now, picking up these little rocks and having so much fun right now.” And it was so simple and it was so amazing. And just by being with him, I felt joy. Isn’t that amazing?
Eric: It’s contagious, man.
Charan: It’s contagious. Contagious.
Eric: So is negative energy, though, too.
Charan: Absolutely.
Eric: Yeah.
Eric Osmond Talks About His Greatest Fear
Charan: So, we’re talking about different energies and they’re both contagious, positive and negative. With the joy, what is your, I guess, your greatest fear?
Eric: My greatest fear?
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Oh gosh. That comes from my deepest, darkest insecurities.
Charan: Okay. Okay. We don’t have to talk about it then if you don’t want to.
Eric: Yeah, no. Being forgotten, being useless, being nothing. I think at a point we all can connect to feeling like nothing, because if you pause for a second… Isn’t that weird?
Charan: Yeah, that’s kind of interesting.
Eric: I know, right?
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Some people are like, “What’s going on?”
Charan: Wait, what happened? What happened? Why did he do this?
Eric: But you can hear like the humming of computers or just that, you can hear… It exists.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: But if you’re part of that nothingness, then you’re nothing.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: And we all want to be significant to a point, even if it’s just to ourselves. That’s my biggest fear.
Charan: Well, it’s interesting. And I’m going to get a little scriptural on you, if that’s okay?
Eric: Please. Bring it on.
Charan: So, in the Book of Mormon, there’s this prophet, his name is Lehi, and he’s talking about things all being a compound in one. And he said, “If things were just one body, they must remain as dead.” And so, I was thinking about this, and I had this religion professor kind of break this down to us scientifically. And he was saying that all matter, all energy emit heat. They emit some sort of heat. Right? But when it gets divided and cut down and cut down and cut down and cut down and cut down. Let’s just say, you could like just divide matter up, over and over and over and over and over and over again, you eventually get to this point where that piece of matter that exists no longer produces heat. It has what’s called heat death. And in a sense, it becomes nothing. It becomes nothing.
Charan: So, when you look at it like that, when you look at the adversary, you look at the hard things in our lives, sometimes it cuts us down over and over and over and over and over again until the point where it’s like I have no energy left, I’ve got nothing left. I’m nothing. But at the same, our value, when you partner with God and you get filled with that light and that love and that hope, it’s like you become completely significant. You become completely whole without the need of other people telling you, “Oh, I’m valuable.” Without the need of overcompensating. So, I just think it’s powerful. So, I love that you shared that with me, because that is a deep, dark fear of mine as well, to get cut down like that.
Eric: Oh, totally. I mean, if you’re stymied, that’s the right word, if you’re halted with any course of action you’re trying to take in life, some people say, “I’m going to take that as a sign that that’s not what I’m supposed to be doing.” Or maybe that is the adversary in a way saying, “No, you’re doing the right thing; I gotta stop you.” If stuff comes way too easy for you, and I think it was Marilyn Manson who said, “If you have no trials or you’re not being hated on anything you’re trying to do, you’re probably not doing something right.” I thought that was interesting.
Charan: That’s very interesting.
Eric: And also with the light you’re talking about — I just wanted to throw this in there — my younger brother is studying quantum physics. You’re talking about molecular-level stuff.
Charan: Yes, yes, yes.
Eric: There is no way to measure darkness. We always measure the light.
Charan: And why is that?
Eric: I mean, I just thought that that was fascinating to throw that in there, if somebody somehow makes sense of that. He’s a quantum physicist. Talking to this guy is like, “Well, we’re all connected on this weird level.” But when you go down to there, when you’re talking about heat, I’ve never heard of that before, where the heat is gone, our energy, our frequency, our desire for life is gone-
Charan: Everything’s gone.
Eric: … because we’ve stopped so many times. I mean, or being stopped. Sorry, the camera’s stopped.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. God is light. And so, we need the sun. We need to go outside. We can’t function eventually when that happens. We need God. We need light.
Charan: Absolutely.
Eric: Just keep going, man. Keep going. Keep swimming.
Charan: Keep going. You’ve got to keep swimming in that life.
Eric: You’re going to hit walls. If you’re hitting walls, you’re doing something right.
Charan: You’re doing something right, absolutely.
Eric: Just keep going, man. Geez, stop stopping.
Eric Osmond’s Advice to His Younger Self
Charan: Well, dude, you know what? I think you just answered my last question, which was going to be what is the advice you’d give your younger self?
Eric: Oh man. Learn time travel. Join me.
Charan: Dude, seriously [crosstalk 00:51:48] so great. It’s pretty great, yeah.
Eric: That’s pretty good. I should probably write that down. No, I mean, gosh, I wouldn’t tell myself anything.
Charan: Okay.
Eric: I would not tell my younger self a single thing, because I want him to go through what I went through.
Charan: I love that.
Eric: And if he didn’t, I would become weak.
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: I’m not saying I’m super strong, but I’m much stronger because of those things. So, if I could bear encouragement, though, I would say, “You can keep going. Go through it, but just know that you’re not alone.”
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: That’s another thing too. People think that they’re alone. That’s not true.
Charan: And that’s not true. And that’s beautiful advice. Right? Just knowing that, hey, look, life is going to be hard, but you’re not alone.
Eric: It’s not just going to be hard, Charan. Life is going to be destructive. You are going to be… Okay. What was that one, if you’re talking about scriptural stuff or was it a talk or something? Somebody was saying, “You’re in this house and God is in there knocking walls down, and you want it to be this cute little cottage, and God’s in there just busting the walls and destroying the roof and whatever the case and destroying your garden.” What you thought you had in life, who you thought you were going to be with, ghosted, for example. What you thought you were going to do as a career, look at my story. The money you thought you had, if you’d been robbed or stolen from. I’ve been through that stuff. You’ve been through your versions of that. We’ve all had our versions of being destroyed. And we think that it’s just, life sucks. I’m done.
Eric: That’s not the case. Let go and let God. Let him destroy your cottage so that you can become this mansion, and you are going to stretch. There’s no comfort in the growth zone. There’s no growth in the comfort zone as they say. Right?
Charan: Yeah.
Eric: Growing pains. Do you want to grow? We all want to grow. If you ripe, you rot. You have to grow and it’s going to hurt.
Charan: Yeah. But dude, but-
Eric: It’s hard.
Charan: Yeah. And that’s how we’re going to end it. Life is hard, you guys.
Eric: Yeah, that was good. Sorry, that was me. You say the final thing. [crosstalk 00:53:37]
Charan: No, I loved it. No, seriously, Eric, this has been amazing, man, and it’s been so good to hear-
Eric: You’re amazing.
Charan: You’re amazing. Come on, we can keep going on and on. It was so fun. No, it’s been such a great experience because every time I’m on this podcast talking to someone, I learn so much about myself, and I’m so blessed because I learned something like that. And it’s so great. And every time people come on, I’m like, this is therapy. That’s what this is. This is therapy for everyone, hopefully. But I really hope that our listeners today can get something really powerful out of it because you bore your soul today, man. And I really appreciate you sharing the advice and the things that you’ve gone through, and as a result of it, how we can all become better. So, thanks so much, man, for being open.
Eric: Thanks for having me.
Charan: Yeah, man, of course. Thanks guys.
Charan: Thanks so much for listening to the Lemonade Stand podcast and we hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use to be alerted when we release new episodes. We’d also love to hear your feedback and reviews, and if you or someone you know has an awesome Lemonade Stand story, please reach out to us on social media and let us know. Thanks so much and have a great day.