Leaning into Life
Written by Paula Prickett
March 5th, 2026
3 min read
March 5th, 2026
3 min read
Paula Prickett is the founder of Black Dog Luxury Travel and a luxury travel advisor who designs deeply personal journeys for clients around the world. Known for her intuitive approach and global connections, she believes travel is one of the most powerful ways we reconnect with our shared humanity. When she is not planning extraordinary experiences or exploring the world herself, she can usually be found at home with the three black Labradors who run her life, Dormie, Chip, and Atlas.
"Travel has a way of reminding us that life is meant to be experienced, not postponed." -Paula Prickett
"Travel has a way of reminding us that life is meant to be experienced, not postponed." -Paula Prickett
The northern lights have a way of making everything quiet.
I remember lying in a glass igloo in northern Finland, watching the sky move slowly above me. Green and violet light drifted across the darkness as if someone were painting it in slow motion. The Arctic night felt perfectly still. No one was speaking. There was nothing to say. The moment asked for stillness.
Travel gives us moments like that. Moments when we stop moving long enough to feel something.
Sometimes it is the shock of seeing wildlife on safari standing only yards away. Your breath catches in your chest because the experience feels both fragile and enormous.
Sometimes it is the sunrise over the Mediterranean. The water is still dark when the first light appears, and then slowly the sea turns gold.
Those moments stay with you.
I remember lying in a glass igloo in northern Finland, watching the sky move slowly above me. Green and violet light drifted across the darkness as if someone were painting it in slow motion. The Arctic night felt perfectly still. No one was speaking. There was nothing to say. The moment asked for stillness.
Travel gives us moments like that. Moments when we stop moving long enough to feel something.
Sometimes it is the shock of seeing wildlife on safari standing only yards away. Your breath catches in your chest because the experience feels both fragile and enormous.
Sometimes it is the sunrise over the Mediterranean. The water is still dark when the first light appears, and then slowly the sea turns gold.
Those moments stay with you.
But when I think about the experiences that have stayed with me the longest, they are rarely the landscapes.
They are the people.
A guide who speaks about his country with quiet pride. A small café owner who insists you sit down and stay a little longer because the conversation is not finished. Drivers, hosts, and locals who begin as strangers but slowly become something closer to friends.
Over the years, I have kept in touch with many of them. We still check in with each other. What started as a simple meeting during travel turns into something that feels more like an extended family.
Those moments slowly teach you something about the world.
No matter where we go, people are remarkably similar.
Cultures look different. Languages sound different. Traditions vary from place to place. But underneath all of it, the same hopes appear again and again.
People hope for good lives for the people they love.
They want their children to grow and thrive.
They want to feel love in their lives and to give love in return.
The more places you see, the harder it becomes to believe that we are all that different from one another.
That understanding deepened for me after something in my own life shifted everything.
My husband passed away when we were both forty-five.
Loss changes the way you see time. It removes the comfortable illusion that life stretches endlessly ahead of us. Suddenly, the idea of someday feels fragile.
It also creates clarity.
Life is not meant to be watched from the sidelines. It is meant to be lived while we have it.
Travel has always reminded me of that truth. Not because of the destinations themselves, but because of what happens when we step outside the familiar. We see beauty we did not expect. We meet people whose lives look different from ours but whose hearts feel familiar. We realize how wide the world is and how connected we all are within it.
And somewhere in those moments, something shifts.
We remember that life is not something meant to be postponed for a more convenient time. It is happening now, in ordinary days and unexpected encounters and quiet moments of wonder.
The world offers endless invitations to step forward, to connect, to experience more than we thought possible.
All we have to do is accept them and lean into life while we can.
They are the people.
A guide who speaks about his country with quiet pride. A small café owner who insists you sit down and stay a little longer because the conversation is not finished. Drivers, hosts, and locals who begin as strangers but slowly become something closer to friends.
Over the years, I have kept in touch with many of them. We still check in with each other. What started as a simple meeting during travel turns into something that feels more like an extended family.
Those moments slowly teach you something about the world.
No matter where we go, people are remarkably similar.
Cultures look different. Languages sound different. Traditions vary from place to place. But underneath all of it, the same hopes appear again and again.
People hope for good lives for the people they love.
They want their children to grow and thrive.
They want to feel love in their lives and to give love in return.
The more places you see, the harder it becomes to believe that we are all that different from one another.
That understanding deepened for me after something in my own life shifted everything.
My husband passed away when we were both forty-five.
Loss changes the way you see time. It removes the comfortable illusion that life stretches endlessly ahead of us. Suddenly, the idea of someday feels fragile.
It also creates clarity.
Life is not meant to be watched from the sidelines. It is meant to be lived while we have it.
Travel has always reminded me of that truth. Not because of the destinations themselves, but because of what happens when we step outside the familiar. We see beauty we did not expect. We meet people whose lives look different from ours but whose hearts feel familiar. We realize how wide the world is and how connected we all are within it.
And somewhere in those moments, something shifts.
We remember that life is not something meant to be postponed for a more convenient time. It is happening now, in ordinary days and unexpected encounters and quiet moments of wonder.
The world offers endless invitations to step forward, to connect, to experience more than we thought possible.
All we have to do is accept them and lean into life while we can.
