When you look in the mirror, what greets you back? Do you see yourself as an “older person,” or do you try to imagine what you will look like in the years ahead? Do you think maybe your face no longer has the symmetry that it used to? Or are you content or even happy with what you see?

A recent survey by AARP provides some collective responses to these questions. While about one in three women polled had anxiety about their aging appearance, the majority of women (over 60%) stated that their looks do not determine how old they feel and that they embrace their age and the wisdom that comes with it (and they’re even not afraid to reveal how old they are). However, few are happy with the images of older women they see in the media and would welcome more (and more realistic) portrayals of older women in publications and on social media. Overall, there’s a lot of mythmaking about how women dread getting older but the reality is much more nuanced. For some further insights, turn off that make-up mirror and click here. And speaking of mirrors, take a look at the personal journey of writer Sherrill Pool Elizondo and her 55-year-old “Clairol mirror” here.