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The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.
A new start after 60: I jumped in the sea for the first time, and finally began to heal
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Despite living on an island, David Warr avoided the water for five decades – until a swimming teacher made the link between his fear and a childhood trauma When David Warr was 11 he thought he was dying. At his school swimming lesson, he jumped in and swam – then realised with horror that his feet couldn’t feel the bottom.
He recalls his teacher, standing on the side of the pool, shouting at him to “just swim” and his own immobilising fear. “I thought, ‘I can’t.
I don’t know what to do.’ I started to panic hard. I thought, ‘She’s going to let me die.’” Warr, 61, has blocked out how he reached safety, but for five decades he refused to go out of his depth again.
He recalls his teacher, standing on the side of the pool, shouting at him to “just swim” and his own immobilising fear. “I thought, ‘I can’t.
I don’t know what to do.’ I started to panic hard. I thought, ‘She’s going to let me die.’” Warr, 61, has blocked out how he reached safety, but for five decades he refused to go out of his depth again.
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