I watched a documentary on Netflix last night called "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga." It's a Werner Herzog documentary about the trappers that live mostly solitary lives (with working dogs!) in the upper territories of Russia/Siberia. It really stuck with me because it appears to be such a harsh and cruel environment, but the folks that live there seem happy to do the work of living and working because they live off the land, and there is food and beauty in abundance. They are also basically untouched by modern technology. But for all the extremes, they seem deeply satisfied and pleased with the lives they live.
If you like documentaries, it comes highly recommended.