Your ups and downs in sports, I think they are as normal as

Michael Schumacher, the great master of the racetrack, once said: “Your ups and downs in sports, I think they are as normal as daily life: One day you wake up and feel great, the next day you wake up and feel maybe less great.” These words, born from the experience of a champion, shine with simple but enduring wisdom. They remind us that neither victory nor defeat, neither joy nor sorrow, exists in permanence. Just as the sun rises and sets, so too do the fortunes of both sports and life rise and fall in endless rhythm.

The essence of Schumacher’s reflection is acceptance. He does not speak of despair in failure or arrogance in triumph; instead, he sees both as natural, woven into the fabric of existence. The ups and downs of an athlete mirror the very breath of life—sometimes deep and steady, sometimes shallow and strained, but always flowing. To resist this rhythm is to court suffering, but to embrace it is to live with peace and resilience.

Consider Schumacher himself: a man who reached the summit of Formula One, crowned again and again as champion, yet who also endured crashes, setbacks, and the strain of competition at the highest level. He knew that every race could not be won, that even the greatest machine sometimes falters, and that even the strongest body sometimes wakes heavy with fatigue. Yet by accepting these truths, he preserved his strength for the long road, never undone by a single loss nor blinded by a single triumph.

History, too, offers echoes of this teaching. Think of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and philosopher, who wrote in his Meditations that each day brings both hardship and blessing, and that wisdom lies in meeting both with equanimity. Or consider the story of Abraham Lincoln, who endured failure after failure in politics and business before rising to lead a nation. Like Schumacher, they recognized that life’s journey is not a straight line upward, but a path that winds through valleys and peaks, demanding both patience and courage.

Schumacher’s words also reveal the danger of false expectation. Many believe that to succeed is to live always at the height of greatness, to wake every morning with fire in the heart and strength in the body. But this is illusion. To demand constant excellence is to invite despair. True mastery lies not in never falling, but in rising each time we stumble, in knowing that today’s weakness does not erase tomorrow’s strength. This is the rhythm of the athlete, and the rhythm of life itself.

The lesson, then, is clear: embrace the ups and downs as companions on your journey. Do not cling to the highs, nor be crushed by the lows. Each day is different, and each moment passes. What matters is not that you always feel strong, but that you remain steadfast in purpose, willing to continue whether you feel “great” or “less great.” Consistency of will outlasts the inconsistency of feeling.

So I say to you: let Schumacher’s wisdom guide you. When you wake with joy, give thanks and use your strength well. When you wake with weariness, endure with patience and know that it will pass. In both, keep moving forward, as the racer continues his laps whether leading or trailing, trusting that the road itself will reveal new chances. For in life, as in sports, greatness is not the absence of struggle, but the persistence to continue through every turn of fortune.