Dr. Atul Gawande, ‘Being Mortal’
I finished listening to ‘Being Mortal’ recently. That line stayed with me.
Not the middle of your story. Not the beginning. The end.
That’s what people remember. That’s what defines the whole narrative.
And here’s what nobody tells you: Your ending is being written right now. Today. With the choices you’re making.
The Peak and The End
Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman discovered something about human memory: We don’t remember our lives the way they actually happened.
We remember the peaks, the moments of intense experience, good or bad.
And we remember, the end how things finished.
Everything in between? Most people forget it.
This means something radical: Your life isn’t determined by the average of your days. It’s determined by the peaks and the ending.
So the question becomes: What ending do you want to remember? What ending do you want others to remember?
The Two Paths
I’ve watched people age in two very different ways.
One Path:
You reach 70, 80, and your body begins its decline. Medications accumulate. Freedom diminishes. You depend on others for basic things. Pain becomes a companion. Your mind clouds. You spend your days in doctor’s offices, waiting rooms, hospitals.
Your story becomes smaller. Narrower. Eventually it becomes: Just getting through the day.
That’s not a graceful ending. That’s a prison made of the choices you didn’t know you were making.
Another Path:
You reach 70, 80, and you’re still alive. Not just breathing but living.
Your body still moves. Your mind is still clear. You have freedom. You have dignity. You spend time with people you love. You play. You create. You contribute.
Your story remains big. Expansive. It becomes: This is what it looks like to age well.
That’s a graceful ending. That’s a playground you built with choices.
The Choice You’re Making Right Now
Here’s what Dr. Atul Gawande understood: The ending isn’t determined by chance or genetics. It’s determined by the choices people make about how they want to live.
The problem is most people make those choices unconsciously.
They eat what’s convenient. They follow the cultural narrative about food. They don’t ask: What am I actually feeding my body?
But that unconsciousness is a choice. And it has consequences.
To write a graceful ending, you need two things:
1. Consciousness About Food as Fuel
Food is not entertainment. It’s not social performance. It’s fuel.
And fuel determines what your engine can do.
Dead food (processed, cooked, transformed) = dead fuel. Your body runs on fumes. Your mind clouds. Your cells deteriorate.
Living food (raw, plant-based, exactly as nature made it) = vital fuel. Your body has energy. Your mind is clear. Your cells regenerate.
The question isn’t “What tastes good?” The question is: “What fuel am I choosing for my ending?”
Every meal is a vote for the ending you want.
2. Rational Thinking
Most people let their choices be driven by habit, convenience, family tradition, and cultural narrative.
“Everyone eats this way.” “My family always ate this way.” “It’s too hard to change.” “I’m too old to start.”
But rational thinking asks a different question: Is this actually serving me? Is this actually creating the ending I want?
When you think rationally about your body, you realize:
- Processed food doesn’t serve you. It serves the food industry.
- Convenience doesn’t serve you. It serves immediate comfort at the cost of future suffering.
- Family tradition doesn’t serve you if it’s bringing disease.
- Cultural narrative doesn’t serve you if it’s leading to decline.
Rational thinking means: I’m going to observe reality and make choices based on what actually works.
And what actually works is living food + conscious choices.
The Preparation
I’m 66 years young. I’m not preparing to retire and fade away.
I’m preparing for my old age with utmost care.
Every day, I make conscious choices about what I eat. I’m rational about it. I don’t follow trends or convenience. I feed my body what it needs to remain vital.
Why?
Because I’m aware that my ending is being written now.
I’m aligning with nature not fighting it, not resisting it, but moving with it. Eating what Mother Nature provides. Living how nature intended.
And I’m doing this for a reason: I want to leave a legacy.
Not just a name or a business. A proof. A living example that you can age gracefully. That you can reach 70, 80, 90 with clarity, vitality, and dignity.
But I’m also humble about it: Only time will prove.
I don’t know what my ending will look like. Nobody does. Life is unpredictable. But what I do know is that I’m making the choices that give me the best chance of a graceful one.
What “Graceful Aging” Actually Means
When I imagine my ending not morbidly, but thoughtfully this is what I see:
No regrets that I didn’t do enough for my health. I did everything I could.
No unnecessary pain. Not because pain never comes, but because I didn’t invite it through negligence.
Full freedom. I can move. I can think. I can choose how I spend my days.
Full confidence. I know my body won’t betray me from preventable causes.
Living with dignity. Not dependent on others for basic things. Contributing, not just consuming.
Time with family and friends. Connection. Love. Meaning.
A playground, not a prison.
That’s the ending worth writing toward.
The Legacy Question
I’m not writing my ending just for me. I’m writing it for the next generation.
What I do with my body now is a statement. It’s a choice that says: This is possible. This is what aging can look like when you align with nature.
I’m writing about it. Teaching it. Living it. Not to convince anyone. But to show them what’s possible.
My children and grandchildren will inherit the world I leave behind. But they’ll also inherit something else: A model of how to grow old.
If I fade away into decline and dependence, that’s the model I’m leaving them.
But if I age gracefully, vital, clear, engaged that’s a different inheritance. It says: Your body can age gracefully. Your mind can stay clear. You can reach 80 and still be alive.
That’s the legacy I want to leave. Not money or possessions. But proof.
How to Start Writing Your Ending
You don’t need to make dramatic changes today. You need to make conscious choices.
Start small:
Become conscious about what you eat. Not to judge yourself. But to observe: How does this food actually make me feel? Does it fuel me or drain me?
Use your rational mind. Ask yourself: Is this choice serving my ending or undermining it?
Listen to your body. Not to the noise around you. To what your body actually needs.
And notice: Plant-based raw food becomes the natural choice. Not from ideology. From rationality.
Because when you observe what actually fuels vitality, what actually keeps minds clear, what actually allows graceful aging living food is the answer.
The Book
In March 2026, I’m publishing IN NATURE WE TRUST: A Raw Food Manifesto For Energy, Healing & Longevity. The complete system for writing a graceful ending.
~ Life is Energy & Energy is Life ~
But you don’t have to wait until then.
You can start now.
You can start making conscious choices about food as fuel.
You can start using your rational mind to question the narratives.
You can start preparing for your own graceful ending.
Your Ending Matters
Dr. Atul Gawande was right: Life is a story. The ending matters.
Your ending isn’t predetermined. It’s being written by the choices you’re making right now.
Every meal. Every thought about what you’re feeding your body. Every decision to think rationally instead of following set norms blindly.
These choices are writing your ending.
So the question I want to leave you with isn’t about diet or health trends.
The question is: What ending do you want to write? And what choices are you making today to create that ending?
Because your ending is being written now.
Make it graceful.
Life is Energy. Energy is Life.
–Axay Shah
IN NATURE WE TRUST
P.S. : I’m preparing for my old age with utmost care, aligning with nature, carrying a legacy forward. Only time will prove if I succeed. But I know this: The choices I’m making today are writing the ending I want to live. What ending are you writing?
