There are ups and downs, but whatever happens, you have to trust

The words of Luka Modri?—“There are ups and downs, but whatever happens, you have to trust and believe in yourself.”—carry the ring of timeless wisdom, as though spoken not only by an athlete but by one who has wrestled with fate itself. They remind us that life is no straight road, no smooth ascent to glory. Rather, it is a path of ups and downs, of triumphs that dazzle and failures that cut deep, of moments when the soul soars and others when it sinks into shadow. Yet in the midst of this ebb and flow, Modri? commands us to hold fast to the one anchor no storm can take: trust and belief in yourself.

This truth has been known since the dawn of human struggle. The ancients taught that fortune is fickle, a wheel that turns without warning. Today a man may stand crowned with laurel, tomorrow cast down into dust. The Stoics of Rome warned against placing one’s faith in the shifting winds of circumstance, urging instead that the true citadel is within. Modri? echoes this ancient call. For if the world’s tides are beyond our control, then it is the strength of our inner conviction that determines whether we rise again or are swallowed by despair.

Consider Modri?’s own story. Born amid the fires of war in Croatia, his childhood was marked by fear, exile, and the harshness of survival. He was a boy whose homeland crumbled around him, a boy told he was too slight, too fragile to become a champion in the world’s game. Yet he did not yield to the voices of doubt. Through countless setbacks, he held to that sacred flame of self-belief, training his body, sharpening his vision, and refusing to let the world define his limits. From the rubble of hardship, he rose to become a master of the midfield, a Ballon d’Or winner, and the captain who carried his nation to the World Cup final. His journey stands as living proof of his words.

History too gives us other examples. Recall Abraham Lincoln, who suffered defeat after defeat—failed businesses, political losses, personal tragedies—yet clung to the belief that his purpose was not ended. At last, he rose to the highest office of his nation and became the leader who held America together through its darkest trial. The world remembers him not for his defeats, but for his unyielding conviction that, though fortune failed him many times, he must not fail himself.

The lesson is clear: the ups and downs of life are inevitable. No man or woman escapes them, no matter how strong, wealthy, or wise. What matters is not the fall, but whether you rise again. And rising again depends upon one thing—whether you still believe in your own strength, whether you trust that the spark within you is greater than the darkness around you.

Practical wisdom flows from this teaching. When you fall, do not curse the fall—stand, breathe, and remind yourself of the victories you have already survived. When doubt whispers, speak louder: “I trust myself. I believe in myself.” Write down your vision, keep it close, and when setbacks come, read it again as a warrior reads his oath before battle. Surround yourself with those who remind you of your strength, and in your weakest hour, look not to fortune, but to the discipline and courage that already live within your chest.

So remember Modri?’s words as a banner to carry into every struggle: life will lift you and cast you down, but your faith in yourself must never be broken. For those who endure with self-belief are like rivers—they may be diverted, they may encounter stones, but nothing can stop their flow toward the sea. And if you hold fast, trusting yourself through the storms, you too shall one day look back, not in regret, but in triumph, knowing that you rose again and again until victory was yours.