How Open Water Swimming Helped Journalist Heal from Grief

When Angela Giuffrida plunged into the choppy waters off Turkey's coast last September, something remarkable happened. The tightness in her throat that had followed her for months began to loosen, and breathing came easier.

Eight months earlier, the 50-year-old journalist had lost her mother unexpectedly. She'd been struggling with sleepless nights, anxiety, and a persistent feeling of being lost without her mom.

A friend convinced her to try a week-long swimming challenge in Croatia, covering 3km each day. Giuffrida had grown up swimming in grim municipal pools in south London, her mother doing laps while she bobbed in the children's section.

The open water experience was completely different. The buoyancy made her feel weightless yet anchored, and watching sea life while moving rhythmically through the water cleared her mind in ways nothing else could.

With the help of guides from SwimTrek, a Brighton-based tour company, she learned proper front crawl technique using flippers. Her strokes may be messy and she kicks from the knees, but she moves forward.

Over the past year, Giuffrida has completed three swimming tours. She swam 25km over five days in Turkey, celebrated her 50th birthday swimming 4km daily in Greece, and proudly finished last in her group without shame.

Why This Inspires

Looking back, Giuffrida now wonders if her mother found the same respite in the water. Her mom lived with depression and anxiety, swimming for hours during family beach trips to Sicily and later moving to the seaside town of Bexhill.

They never talked about what those swims meant. The conversations were limited to helping her mom buy the right swimming cap or goggles online.

Now the open water has become more than exercise for Giuffrida. It's a welcoming community, new friendships, and a source of all-round wellbeing that helps manage her grief and anxiety.

While she can't share her swimming plans with her mother anymore, being in the sea makes her feel connected to the woman who first took her to the pool all those years ago.