Rebecca Sharrock carries a rare kind of recall. In 2013, doctors diagnosed her with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, also called hyperthymesia. It lets her remember most days of her life with striking detail.

At first, she thought everyone lived this way. She assumed the past stayed bright and reachable for all of us. Then she watched a TV segment about people with extraordinary memory. The presenters called it “amazing.” Rebecca felt puzzled. She turned to her parents and asked a simple question. Why would anyone celebrate something so normal?

Her parents saw what she could not. They recognized how unusual her memory sounded. Later, specialists confirmed it. A news report even said she was the only Australian diagnosed as of 2019.

However, Rebecca does not describe it as a gift without cost. When she revisits a painful moment, she also relives the emotions. If the memory comes from early childhood, the feelings return at that age. Her adult mind stays present. Yet the reaction can feel small, raw, and immediate.

As a result, some people misunderstand her. They assume she chooses to dwell. Rebecca says she does not. Her mind simply replays. And because the condition remains so rare, she often faces it alone, with few clear treatments.

In the end, she lives with a truth many of us forget. Memory can comfort. Memory can also ache.