How to keep myself from getting lost in the nether, and find Nether Fortresses [closed]

You're probably most confined by thinking in terms of other games. Minecraft requires you to break some mental barriers.

First off, Netherrack is very soft. Never feel confined by it, just dig your way through. Any huge gaps can be bridged through. If you have a high drop, riding off a cliff in a boat cancels the damage (usually...). If you have enderpearls, they can cover large gaps or save life. But in general, what the game generated as your path is merely a suggestion which you can reshape as you will.

Next, Nether is easy to get lost in. My preferred method - grab a stack (or more) of torches and cobble, and leave markers "back towards the portal" within sight of one another - whenever you stand on a block of cobble, and face in the direction where the torch is attached, you should see another marker (unless there's no other way, say, narrow non-branching tunnel. But always mark the entrance and exit!).

There's a bunch of advice related to survival in the Nether which would be a subject for a different question, but in general finding a fortress is a challenge and it's a worthy one. Don't deprive yourself of the satisfaction of finally getting there through cheating - have patience, keep seeking, mark your way, be cautious, and find advice on survival in the Nether. It's not that difficult once you know what to do and what not to do.

Broadly speaking there are several strategies to avoid getting lost in the minecraft nether.

1. Build infrastructure. Cut tunnels, build bridges, place markers outside and signs in tunnels (whether natrual caves or tunnels you build yourself), build structures that can be seen from a distance, especially around tunnel entrances.
2. Use compases, a regular compass directs you to worldspawn, but unfortunately it only works in in the overworld. A lodestone compass directs you towards it's corresponding lodestone provided you are in the same dimension as the lodestone. So you can place a lodestone near your nether portal in the nether and then use a compass on it and the compass will direct you towards home.
3. View your coordinates, in bedrock this is a specific option, in java there is no specific option to show coordinates but they can be seen on the debug screen. Some may consider this cheating though.

If you get lost in the nether without a lodestone compass and you don't want to turn on coordinates then I would suggest building a new portal and going back to the overworld. Once back in the overwold you can then use a regular compass to find your way back to world spawn.

I would advise carrying resources with you to build a portal when traveling in the nether. However since Minecraft 1.16 it is possible to obtain all the resources needed to survive and get back to the over world in the nether without relying on structure loot (i'm not 100% sure but I belive it has long been possible to escape the nether using loot from nether fortresses.

• Giant fungi can be used to obtain crimson or warped stems which can be use for most purposesd for which wood is usually used such as making tools and bowls.
• Mushrooms can be harvested for food, it's also possible to kill hoglins but it can be rather dangerous.
• Gold in the nether can be mined using a wooden pickaxe, it can be bartered with piglins to obtain a variety of items including gravel, obsidian and iron.
• flint can be obtained by mining gravel (either gravel from bartering or naturally generated in the nether).