浪人 (Ronin)

The japanese word "ronin" (浪人, rōnin), implying a warrior who serves no master, but is not a master yet himself, literally means "wave man". A man who is thrown around on the waves of fate. Or perhaps they mean a man who has the balls to throw himself in the ocean and relax...until he needs to swim.
I am a ronin.
I am on the eve of quitting a secure job with a firm that loves me. Or at least, certainly appears to love me, so far. The last sentence of course is the little guy with horns and a spear who sits on my shoulder and periodically pokes my ear with the spear, telling me that actually the world is composed primarily of excrement and I should see it as such. However, to come back to the point, to use a nice analogy, I am about to leave the service of the East India Trading Company and join the crew of what looks like the Black Pearl.
As I remove the insignia of my former lord and master to become a ronin, a multitude of fears plague me.
Will the lack of a masters sheltering hand over my head leave me exposed to the ravages of fate?
Will my capabilities, without the brand value of my master, keep me afloat in the ocean?
Will my wife leave me, the way Oishi Yoshio's did when he turned ronin?
Screech!!!!!!! Hold everything! Wife??? Leave??? I'm not even married!!!
But none the less...if I get married will my wife leave me, the way Oishi Yoshio's did?
As is obvious from the last of my 'concerns', I'm basically a neurotic who likes to think bad things will happen.
It's just my way of scaring the bejeesus out of myself, so that if something bad does happen, I can say "Heh! I knew that was coming"
Probably, ten years down the line, I will be Frosting somewhere with a glass of sherry, "Oh, I took the road less travelled and that has made all the difference".
Alternatively I could be sitting in the GuruShree bar on the road to nowhere with a glass of cheap whisky and a tear in my eye, mourning the good old days when I was not a ronin.
What will happen to this Ronin??? Will he Frost his way to the top? Will he slowly sink to the bottom?
The answer to these questions and more...coming soon on...."Arjun Venkatraman: The Ronin Story"