If things progress and continue as some suspect, minimalism may become a necessity rather than a choice. This likely applies to many around the world at this moment. As some commentators have suggested, such as various Stoic ancient thinkers, Orwell, etc., to remove the shock of any forced minimalism that one might encounter, best to "give it a try" for a while to see what effect it has on you rather than find out that you may go crazy when faced with sudden shocking shortages. Of course, one can only "give it a try" to a certain extent without the actual experience of involuntary depletion, but just trying to live off of smaller amounts of food, eliminating luxuries for a time, sleeping on the floor for a week, etc., can give one perspective on what really matters in life over what has become slathered on unnecessarily like frosting. Many affluent lifestyles in the West today, even some in the middle class, would seem like paradise even to emperors of the past. A little minimalism wouldn't hurt to fight against that insatiable innate tendency in humanity to always want more even when one already has everything that one needs.