Okay....I wasn't sure what I was doing and not knowing what the selection meant, I 'dropped' my character almost immediately after creating it. What do I do?!?!?! I didn't mean to kill the character!

Wait three weeks.

There is an explanation of what the feature does when it says "Enter Password". Mr. Bieba is right however, there is a 21 day Cooldown period before you can respawn.

In this time, you can research possibilities for your new character, think of an amazing name, and create a lot of stuff for him. This will possibly help you in better stead when you respawn.

Just don't quit! :D You'll miss out on a lot! :)

To prevent any more incidents in the future, I shall copy and past the confirmation page:

“
Are you sure you wish to permanently remove your character and start again?

Your character will be turned into an NPC and you will have to wait for 21 days before respawning.

This action cannot be reversed.


Password ********
Confirm


- Drop Character
 ”

You could try asking the ASims politely if they would reduce the counter for you, but don't bet on it unfortunately.