All photos are from Brett’s Instagram and credited there when applicable. Used by permission.
Over the past few years I’ve observed that the Country Music culture has, in my opinion, been transforming by the influence of those musicians who are passionate about God. They seem to make Christ more central to their daily lifestyle. They want to exercise their faith and through that be a positive influence. Brett Young strikes me as a guy doing exactly that (and he’s being an influence among men in the area of physical fitness too). You can see that his genuine love for his wife Taylor and their daughter (and the one on the way) gives him focus. He knows the importance of being humble and fully dependent on the grace and leading of God. He’s not just aware of the role he has in demonstrating faithfulness, he enthusiastically takes ownership of that. In this short interview with Brett I hope you’ll be inspired to BE LIFE to those around you.
-Brad Bloom, Publisher, Faith & Fitness Magazine
Faith & Fitness Magazine: Your song, Lady, sure has struck a chord with listeners. Some of the first words in the song are, “God knows, I don’t know exactly what I’m doing…” When it comes to parenting and being a family, a lot of people feel the same way. How would you encourage them and what do you do to learn and grow in your roles as a husband, father and simply as a human striving to do your best?
Brett Young: That’s a huge part of how I deal with the absolute confusion that being new parents brings. Having the ability to completely lean on my faith and trust that God hasn’t put me in a situation that I’m incapable of handling.
I’m slowly learning that nobody is prepared for parenthood. You have to give yourself grace and know that you aren’t the first and you won’t be the last parent that starts out scared.
Just remind yourself daily that God has a plan and hand-picked you to be this child’s parent. Then you lean on that and make things up as you go.
Faith & Fitness Magazine: Share how your faith in God has been influenced as a child, young person and now as an adult.
Brett Young: Faith has been a constant for me my entire life. As a child, it was more of a blind faith because I had limited understanding of what that really meant.
As a teenager it became more real because as you get older, your life gets more complicated. You deal with disappointment, broken hearts and things like that. Without faith that God has a plan it would be easy to get discouraged.
As an adult it becomes completely necessary. The responsibility of being a husband and a father is, for me, the most important thing I’ll experience in my life and the only way to avoid operating out of fear is to 100% give it to God. There’s so much peace in that.
Faith & Fitness Magazine: Looks like you’ve done some superhero personal training with Coach and Fitness Entrepreneur Don Soladino. But it looks like you also really enjoy being active with both your wife and daughter. Talk about your fitness lifestyle and not only how you make time to get strong and stay healthy but also how that shapes your outlook and attitude.
Brett Young: Fitness was always a requirement of my athletics so it was more of a fringe benefit of something else I was doing in my life. After baseball it had to become more of a conscious effort.
After Presley was born, in an effort to be home more, I really let things slide in the gym department. As I started to think about how important staying healthy was for my family and being around for them as long as I can, I realized I needed help putting together a program that will serve me in the long run.
Don is amazing and got me dialed into a program that works for me and doesn’t require unreasonable amounts of time. It’s become more of a lifestyle than anything else and I think that’s what has really been working for me.
Faith & Fitness Magazine: We’re focusing in this issue of Faith & Fitness Magazine on the theme: Privileged – Yes, We Are. It’s natural to feel privileged and blessed with a wonderful spouse, children, family and friends, health, job and career and our opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others.
But, share how the challenges, frustrations, setbacks, loses, shortcomings and demands in your life have been a privilege to bare. How do these things strengthen you and ground you in your relationship with God?
Brett Young: I think it’s important to step away from your life and look at it from the outside. Attempting to understand other people’s obstacles and how they may be very different from your own, helps you gain perspective about your own issues.
There’s a difficult balancing act between giving yourself grace, allowing yourself to objectively assess the things that feel difficult in your life, but not let it go so far that you act sorry for yourself and give the phrase “acting privileged” a negative connotation.
In my line of work, it’s common knowledge all of my successes and failures. When things are going well, people know it and you have to be careful not to act privileged or ungrateful. I remind myself daily how blessed we are and pray that God will grant me humility and wisdom in how I treat and act about the beautiful life he’s given us.
Faith & Fitness Magazine: As you look back on your journey to where you are today and look ahead to where you want to be in the future what has guided you? Besides having a #1 hit song, a strong fan base, influence, and all of the things associated with “success” what would you say are important ways for each and every person to measure the good in their life?
Brett Young: After the injury that ended my baseball career, I was forced to find a way to see the upside. What I ended up realizing is that my life had been a collection of God opening and closing doors and that you just have to pay attention to where he’s leading you and what opportunities He’s presenting you.
I didn’t originally set out to pursue music but the doors that He kept opening were impossible to ignore and from the very first step of faith, He has continually confirmed in multiple ways that this is where I am supposed to be.
I think it’s important to always just take a step back and look for or listen to what God is trying to show or tell you. Measuring the good in my life has come from knowing I’m living the life God has planned for me.
It isn’t a measurement of success or material things, it’s just finding the path He set out for you and honoring that.
Faith & Fitness Magazine: What can we look forward to in the ongoing story and adventure of Brett Young?
Brett Young: I plan to keep putting out music until God closes that door for me.
In the meantime, I just pray that I’ll be able to respect the platform that comes along with this job and not ever disrespect the reach that I have. I love what I do and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to make music every day.
And if this ever becomes a closed door, I have faith that it only means God has something even bigger and better for me and my family.
