I'd say just be prepared, and you'll be able to survive mistakes. sometimes the mistakes lead to much more interesting experiences

e.g. on my first survival run ever, I accidentally went through a one way door and was stuck without most of my loot and didn't know how to get back to it. there was an easy way back nearby, but I didn't know about it

so I ended up traveling two zones away to someplace I'd never been, got caught outside in a prolonged blizzard, and had to struggle to stay alive. I spotted power lines and was able to follow them to a house to set up a new base

and then, I couldn't figure out how to get back to the previous zones because I couldn't find the cave I'd come through. I knew approximately where it had to be but I just couldn't find it, and it was like two months in game before I made it back to that one way door again

I've survived getting trampled by a moose twice in a row, getting attacked by a bear twice in a row, a blizzard where I was in a ravine and only had three pieces of wood, little food and the tiniest little crack of shelter, falling through the ice and soaking my clothes in bad weather, etc.

the game really won't insta-kill you unless perhaps you fall from high up, and on survival your gear isn't that precious (except the ear warmers, they get ruined easily by animal attacks and are extremely rare). you'll find multiples of the best gear if you explore enough