To those who say growing old brings with it certain expectations, Marian Glass’s response is, “Not necessarily.” Those two words are the driving philosophy behind her recently published book, “The Human’s Handbook: An Owner’s Manual for People.”
“I live in a building with a hundred seniors. And they say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to expect this when you’re 77,’ and I say, ‘Not necessarily.’ And that’s how it got started. And I think that’s so important,” Glass said.
At 87, Glass has so far lived a full life. She met her husband during an 11-month stay in Greece and was a motivational speaker for years. She started a non-smoking group in San Diego that spanned from 1976 to 1991. She has been dancing much of her life and is currently looking for a partner.
Getting her book published is just her latest endeavor, but it is something she has been working on for the past 16 years.
“I was living in a different senior building, and I sat at my typewriter, and I just started typing and typing. After I got done typing, I stopped and I read it, and I saw that it was good,” said Glass. “That was in 1998, it was done.”
The book spans a little over 100 pages and covers topics from sisterhood to second-hand smoking. Glass describes it as a self-help book. It tells readers how optimism and good thoughts lead to wellness and health. According to Glass, this philosophy has worked for her since she hasn’t had a cold in decades and is not yet ready to settle down into a senior lifestyle.
Earlier this month, Balboa Press picked up the book. It can be found on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and balboapress.com, as well as in The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, 1475 Western Ave., in Albany. Glass’s dance group will host a book signing for her once she receives the copies of her book.
What Glass hopes is that Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, will help her book go global. She said she wants to see her words in 30 languages, so it can start making a difference.
“All I need is the strength, and if I know it’s wanted, I will have the strength to do this,” she said of promoting her book. “When I hear that the death rate has gone down from cancer, when I hear that crime has gone down, violence has gone down, I’ll know people are learning from this. I always say, ‘Watch where your mind is going, because that’s where you’re going to go next.’”
Getting “The Human’s Handbook” to its published state has been slow going, but Glass has been trying to get her optimistic philosophy out there. In 2008, the section of her book for seniors, detailing the seasons of getting older, was featured in the Senior Spotlight, and she has been profiled in several magazines and newspapers.
The hope for publication renewed when she moved to her current senior living complex, Bishop Broderick Apartments, and formed a relationship with Joe Nash, librarian at the William K. Sanford Library. Nash suggested that what she was missing was a supplement.
“One of the things that you don’t like about the authors that write about this kind of stuff is that they take hundreds of pages to get to the point. So I did the supplement and titled it ‘This is the point,’” Glass said.
The book is not just for seniors, though. Glass said she wants people to change for the better once they read the book, and the older you get, the harder it is to change. However, according to Glass, changing is not impossible.
“What gets me are people saying, ‘She’s up in years, she’s 71!’ Up in years? If she was 91, maybe, that’s up in years, but it depends on the person. In two and a half years, I’ll be 90,” she said.
One thing she does not want to do is slow down, and she believes that if she continues to abide by her optimism, she will still be dancing.
“This book tells you what your mind is for; what your body is for,” she said. “Don’t waste it on things that are horrible. Do beautiful things with it.”
