A Day In The Life of a Family in One Of The Coldest Villages On Earth

In northern Russia along the East Siberian Sea is a place called Yakutia, one of the coldest human populated regions in the world.

Imagine beginning most days of the year by fetching a block of ice to add to a large barrel of water that your family needs for drinking, cooking, and washing throughout the day.

Imagine minus 40 degrees Celsius / Fahrenheit being a relatively mild winter day.

I greatly enjoyed this mini-documentary as it reminded me of life in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost inhabited village in North America where I lived and worked from 1997 to 1999.

On a purely pragmatic level, we spend our days striving to cover our energy needs, primarily in oil, gas, electricity, and food for our bodies. In this light, we can retire from mandatory work when we know that we can cover our energy needs for our remaining years.

Beyond pragmatic concerns, I believe that our greatest needs are to feel connected to others and to experience personal fulfillment that comes from doing good work and making progress in some area of our lives. I remind myself of such things when it looks like the world is going mad.

As some might say, life is better when we tame our inner bitch through vigorous exercise. Since most of us don't live in a hard place like Yakutia where it is more natural to remember that life is primarily about caring for ourselves and others every day, I tend to agree with this idea. I feel less anxious, more compassionate, and more productive when I push myself to work hard.