Yesterday was day 48 of the Omer, and today is day 49 of the Omer. We made it!!!

Yesterday and today's quotes from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks:

“Whatever your achievements, there is always a second mountain to climb, and it may turn out to be your greatest legacy to the future."

“We are mortal; therefore make every day count. We are fallible; therefore learn to grow from each mistake. We will not complete the journey; therefore inspire others to continue what we began."

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Today is the end of our little challenge! I can't believe we made it. Tonight is the beginning of Shavuot, and in theory, we've reached the pinnacle of our self-improvement (for this focused cycle). Of course, we need to always continue working on ourselves, and I hope that we're all inspired to keep up the solid work we started!

I wish I could say that I ended the challenge on a high-note, but unfortunately, last night is going into the "fail" column. It wasn't the end of the world, but I had a glass of bourbon, followed by pita chips and jelly beans. I have plenty of excuses for this, but I'll skip them for sake of being honest: I didn't stick with my plan.

So, a take home lesson for me, and a plan for moving forward, is that I do best when I have absolute clarity on what my plan is. It has been much better for me to say "I will not snack during the week" rather than "I'll minimize snacking during the week." If I have a well-defined goal, it's easier to work towards it.

I also think there was a lot of value to having to post here every day. However, I imaging that the value will fall off over time (which is why I'm not compelled to continue this particular challenge; other challenges may be worthwhile in the future).

Overall, I made some progress here, too. While the exact numbers are a little hard to get to, given my usual daily fluctuations, here's a picture of my past 30 days:



Finally, I like both of our ending quotes. I find that they are both good reminders that "there is no finish line!"

Feel free to post your concluding thoughts and plans for moving forward from here.