Being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat wouldn’t be viewed as a privilege by most people. Senior Alex Reyes on the other hand, saw his diagnosis as an opportunity, using it as motivational fuel. “It’ll persist sometimes, but I have to live with it,” Reyes said. “But I think it’s something that will lead me to have a drive to do better.”

Perseverance is a core tenet for Reyes. In the face of his family’s bad health history, he tries to be an outlier, citing his mother as inspiration. He strives to be as healthy as he possibly can for his future children and grandchildren. “I started working out seriously about a year-and-a-half ago,” said Reyes. “It’s just something to better everything about myself–my mental well being, my physical health–everything like that.”

But Reyes has more to offer than just brawn. He’s thoughtful and contemplative–someone who can appreciate a serious conversation. “He’s a very philosophical thinker,” said senior Jake Bushway, a friend of Reyes. “He’s an opinionated man, and he’s able to hold a conversation without it sounding like his ideas were just implanted by someone else.”

One such opinion that Reyes shared had to do with self-improvement itself. Specifically, he clarified his thoughts on the dynamic between self-improvement and self-acceptance. He disagrees with the sentiment that people should be comfortable with who they are in this context. In fact, he promotes the exact opposite.

“I think that you always need to strive to be a better version of yourself, and being complicit or comfortable is dangerous.”

This isn’t to say that people shouldn’t have grace towards themselves. Reyes made sure to note the importance of rest and was very open about his struggle with overworking himself.

“I have this, I guess you could say, lust for self-improvement,” Reyes said. “I think that I don’t know my limits yet, and I’m trying to push them every single day, and that can get a little tiring sometimes.”

For Reyes, this is all a process–one that comes with learning through trial and error. It’s common to feel excited at the prospect of improving yourself, but find the process less than glamorous after several months, weeks, or even days.

“I was privileged to have a scary diagnosis to kind of jump start this, but I feel like you have to make your own motivation,” Reyes said. “Whether it be a relationship, your ideals, or your ethics you have to make that motivation. It’s not going to come to you most of the time.”

In Reyes’ view, motivation is fickle. He encourages anyone looking to get started or recommit to self-improvement to reflect and find their core purpose or drive for improving, because emotion can only get you so far.