A friend of mine said the images cease haunting you in about four months.

Memory has already obscured the image enough that I almost viewed her as courageous in my mind today.

Four days?

Memory serves the conscious mind. It stands to reason that the reality of the actual event exists pretty much as you experienced it in the subconscious. This event was unequivocally terrifying. Thus today's slight remembrance of it as brave proves the skewering effect of the conscious mind upon memory.

In laymen's terms: Your mind tweaks and invents memories to protect your psyche and to serve conscious goals.

In the film, Memento: "We all make memories to remind ourselves who we are...I'm no different."