How do I face automation ending my job before I can retire?

Thirty years on the line, your body is spent, and you're terrified automation will end the job before you can retire on your own terms. That fear is not overblown. It's a real threat to real security you worked your whole life for, and naming it plainly is wiser than pretending it away. You have every right to be worried, and to prepare. Fear like this is heaviest when it just circles in your head at night. It gets lighter when you turn it into a plan, even a rough one. Look squarely at the numbers, what you have, what you'd need, how many years stand between you and a retirement you can live with. Find out what's actually available to you, severance terms, retraining, benefits, a union rep, a lighter role. Knowing your real situation, however hard, beats the dread of not knowing. You can't control whether the machines come, but you can control how ready you are when they do. Take one concrete step this month, a conversation with HR, a meeting with someone about your finances, a look at what a less physical job would take. You've given thirty years of steady work. Now aim that same steadiness at protecting your own landing.