The mindset of Strasbourg Europtimist, which allows the city and its inhabitants to look on the good side of life, while striving to improve it.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill’s famous quote is perhaps the best way of describing what optimism means to Strasbourg and how it’s a driving force for the city. Optimism made in Strasbourg is neither empty nor blissful thinking, but what it does show is our confidence in the future and our absolute conviction that we can overcome any obstacle, great or small. Experience has taught us that life is no easy ride, but that it’s also possible to bounce back, to reinvent, to create and to move forward. And this is what any entrepreneur, researcher, student or creator has experienced one time or another.

Cultivating europtimism!

Strasbourg is a city with strong values and a strong feeling for the environment, a place where optimism is a renewable energy. And this optimism is something that grows the more it’s shared. It adds to both our personal and our collective strength and encourages us all to come up with alternative solutions and to experiment with new ways of doing things. It means fostering innovation, but also encouraging the fundamental values which form the cornerstone of modern Europe – respect, liberty, peace and equality.

Being a partner of Strasbourg Europtimist means both sharing and promoting its humanist values, driven by the determination to move forward.

How to become a Europtimist

How do you see the good side of things? How do you bring confidence and energy to the fore? How do you see the glass half full?

3 ways of spreading optimism!

1

Going for change
It’s possible, even easy, to take the side of progress. If you approach it the right way, the future can always be built differently. Let’s begin by allowing ourselves to do things, to drive things and to try things.

2

Shifting the paradigm
Optimism is not the opposite of unhappiness, what it does is open the door to the conviction that another way is possible. Let’s try – solutions, however imperfect they may be, can open up deadlocks and turn weakness into strength.

3

Engaging with difference
Let’s learn to look at things differently – a difference is often the natural breeding-ground for creativity and innovation. Practice by coming up with new ideas and new visions and communicating them to others: optimism is contagious and self-generating!

Are you Strasbourg AND Europtimist?