A lot of things are going to happen that you can't necessarily

The words of Lonzo Ball—“A lot of things are going to happen that you can’t necessarily control all the time, but you can control what you do after it happens. So that’s what I try to do, keep my head up, keep moving forward, stay positive and just work hard.”—are a testament to the eternal wisdom of endurance. They remind us that life is a river filled with both calm waters and sudden storms. Though we cannot command the winds nor silence the waves, we may yet steer our vessel by how we respond. In this truth lies freedom: though fate may strike, our spirit remains ours to govern.

The ancients, too, understood this. The Stoics, from Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius, taught that while we cannot command the events of life, we can command our reactions. Misfortune, betrayal, failure—these are beyond our mastery. But our response, whether of despair or of courage, lies firmly in our grasp. Ball’s words are not mere counsel for the court, but a universal principle: greatness is not measured by avoiding hardship, but by how one rises after hardship has struck.

History provides us luminous examples. Think of Abraham Lincoln, who suffered defeat after defeat in elections, bore the grief of lost children, and shouldered the anguish of a nation torn in two. Yet he did not crumble. He kept his head lifted, he moved forward, he remained steadfast in purpose. In the end, his perseverance carried him to the highest office, and his response to hardship reshaped history. Truly, it was not what befell him that made him great, but how he rose after each fall.

Even on the battlefield, this wisdom is proven. At the darkest hour of World War II, when France had fallen and Britain stood alone against the might of the Nazi empire, Winston Churchill declared not despair, but defiance. He could not control the tide of invasion, but he could control the spirit of his people. By his words—“We shall never surrender”—he turned fear into courage, hopelessness into endurance. The storm still raged, but his response gave birth to victory.

Beloved listener, the lesson is clear: do not waste your strength railing against what you cannot change. Misfortune will come, failure will wound, and loss will humble every soul. But within you lies a citadel that no storm can breach—your choice of response. To keep your head up, to stay positive, to move forward—these are not passive acts, but heroic ones. They transform defeat into a stepping-stone, and suffering into the soil from which resilience grows.

Practical wisdom is this: when hardship comes, do not sink into self-pity. Pause, breathe, and ask, “What can I do now?” Take one step forward, however small. Replace bitterness with gratitude, anger with action, despair with determination. Train yourself daily in small trials, so that when great trials arise, your spirit will already know the path of endurance.

So let the words of Lonzo Ball be remembered not only as an athlete’s mantra, but as a guide for all who walk the uncertain roads of life: you cannot control all that happens to you, but you can always control how you rise after it happens. And in that rising lies the nobility of the human spirit, the quiet heroism of endurance, and the key to victory over every storm.