I got knocked out twice by snakes the first day I played. Now I have a strong fear of snakes

I haven't been knocked out since though. The enders client helped with that.
I'm pretty sure your proficiencies never drop below five. Since I hadn't leveled any of them up, I didn't lose anything there, just the items I was carrying at the time. Sucks because I'd found a seashell and hadn't wanted to use it for my first skill since it was overpowered, lol. Now it doesn't fill any of my proficiency bars

Anyway, just stick with your character.