In the early 2000s, there was a movie called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mine.

It was a quirky sci-fi rom-com starring Jim Carey and Kate Winslet, and it was one of my

favorite movies at the time.

If you've never seen it, it's about a couple after an ugly breakup who undergo a procedure

to erase their memories of the relationship.

This fantasy of selectively deleting unpleasant memories has been a common theme in books

and movies for decades.

Think about that little ray gun in men in black, or the way Hermione forces her own parents

to forget her in the seventh book of Harry Potter.

But brain expert and author of the complete guide to memory, Richard Ristak argues that

our memories are intrinsic to who we are.

We are what we can remember, he writes.

But is that always true, even in the case of horrific memories?

If you could forget the worst day of your life, would you?

What happened to Derek Chang on one July day in the Sierras might be part of who he is,

but when it comes to remembering, he had no choice but to forget.

I made a decision to survive in that survival mode, the idea of dying wasn't in my head.

I knew immediately it was the worst case scenario.

I was in a fight for my life situation.

Whenever you walk out on these trails, you're in their house.

I'm Louisa Albinese, and you're listening to Adelaide by Backpacker.

In each episode of this podcast, we'll bring you real stories of real people who survived

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