If you do an “exact match” Google search for “how to survive a recession”, you’ll find over 35,000 different websites prepared to give you an answer.  You can now add Personal Finance Analyst to that list.

But I think my answer is going to be a little different than most of what’s out there.  The bulk of those sites talk about utilizing frugality as a hedge against recessionary forces, finding credible investment opportunities in a down market, making yourself “untouchable” when the HR people start wandering the halls with pink slips in their hands, and other similar tidbits of advice.

I’m sure much of that wisdom is valuable.  There are undoubtedly some good recommendations for weathering the economic storm and you might as well familiarize yourself with as many of them as you can.

But I’d like to take a slightly different approach.  And we can start by taking exception with the underlying notion that you need to know anything more than you did two years ago to survive a recession.  You don’t.

That’s because a recession isn’t going to kill you.  

Your 401(k) statements might make you light-headed and queasy, but that shrinking number on the bottom of the page will not give you a malignant brain tumor.  You may find yourself looking for a new job, the printer you use to churn out a few copies of your resume isn’t going to put a .45 slug between your eyes.

You’re going to survive.  Recessions aren’t pretty.  They can be miserable events that cause untold human suffering and that turn lives and economic futures upside down.  The recession is a serious problem.  But it isn’t terminal.  You’re not going to die because of an economic lull.

We’ve been through recessions repeatedly.  We went through one so bad it wasn’t just a depression, it was The Great Depression.  Here we are.  We have pulses.

It’s true that some people could be mired in extreme poverty and that the additional economic stress of a recession could result in some tragic horror stories.  I understand that and I would never make light of it.

For most of us, however, the recession is an extreme inconvenience.  It is not life-threatening.

You’re going to survive this recession with or without additional outside advice, but I’ll offer my recommendations just in case.

Breathe.  Relax.  Survive.  Play a board game with your kids.  Plant a few flowers.  Appreciate your wife’s beef and noodles, even if you’re buying a cheaper cut of meat to make it.  Maintain perspective.

Read all of those other “how to survive a recession” pointers and recommendations.  Learn what you were doing wrong before and what you can do better now.  Pick up a few tricks for softening the blow the faltering economy might be landing to your gut.

But don’t freak out.  

Freaking out will get you nowhere.  You don’t need to cash out everything you have, convert that money into gold and hide it under your box spring.  You don’t need to stock up on ammunition for the day when the zombie armies of the economically depressed wasteland kick in your door.  

It’s going to be okay.  We’ve gone down this road before and we’ll go down it again.  It’s a crappy road and the trip can totally screw up a lot of your plans.  It will not, however, kill you.  Your survival is not at stake.