


Marking the Years
Contributor: Shaleena Lalani
Marking the Years is a tool to help partners of alcoholics to feel supported and understood. Join Shaleena Lalani in the messy middle as you move through the process together and understanding yourself.
Contributor: Shaleena Lalani
Marking the Years is a tool to help partners of alcoholics to feel supported and understood. Join Shaleena Lalani in the messy middle as you move through the process together and understanding yourself.
Contributor: Shaleena Lalani
Marking the Years is a tool to help partners of alcoholics to feel supported and understood. Join Shaleena Lalani in the messy middle as you move through the process together and understanding yourself.
Marking the Years is the messy middle of living with an alcoholic. Many times the resources people direct you to feel out of reach. In Francis Newton’s manuscript you are get a clear picture of your situation and a clear understanding of why you make the choices that you do without judgement.. With this tool you will feel heard, understood and empowered.

Marking the Years is a audio file, manuscript and workbook.
Marking the Years is a road map to telling a complicated story.
Introduction:
I have been working on this story Marking the Years for a year but there has been a roadblock that I can’t seem to get past. Marking the Years has given me an insight into myself and I know it will help others as well, but I am stuck. As much as I want this story to be heard, I don’t want to hurt the people in my life as it reveals too much about them and that doesn’t feel right.
I have a need to be heard and know that saying my words will bring healing but I struggle with sharing my words. I just don’t want to hurt anyone, As much as the people in my life have caused me pain, I love them. A month ago, I was going for a walk, contemplating my life, and I had an idea. What if I get people like me to join me on this journey of discovery. We could each tell a bit of our story and mix it all up so that readers can’t tell whose story is being told? This story will be a little bit of me, a little bit of you and a little bit of all the other people that walk the same lives that we do. We are in this together.
Right now I am in the messy middle. Being married to an alcoholic has its struggles, my friends, my family and even I wonder why I stay. Putting everything down on paper I have a new insight into what holds me. But this is a first draft and it is raw, chaotic and nonlinear. Beginnings are always messy. Not many people show where they start, it feels too vulnerable, mediocre and not good enough. But we all have to start somewhere.
I have felt so inferior to the people that try to teach me how to cope with this life because they are so up the ladder of recovery compared to me. I can’t seem to jump up and grab the first rung on the ladder and I fail again and again. I know they want to help but having people walk with me sounds so much better than people that tell me how to walk.
We, you, and I, are in this together. How many times have people said to you, “You should write a book”?
Do you want to be heard? But it feels like you need to suppress your life? I get that feeling. “They” say you must focus on yourself and not talk about the addict in your life. But as I write I am realizing that the only way for me to move forward is to tell my story. But hurting the addicts in my life is not the answer either.
I want to invite you into the messy middle where we can all tell our story, mixing them together to create a story that is far from our individual stories. Together we will write a novel.
This audio file, manuscript and workbook are all first drafts. As we move through this process together, we will refine our stories and get a clearer picture of our lives but right now we are all starting at the very beginning. This, Marking the Years, is a first step. You will not feel inferior. You can start where you are and stay where you are and you will not be judged.
I would love you to join me on this journey. We are in this together.