Take the time to remember every positive moment. This is the philosophy of Anne Cazaubon, 44, who created in 2021, an Instagram account dedicated to positivity and everyone’s voice: “Thank you to a stranger”, which has more than 436,000 subscribers. The concept is simple: every day, Anne Cazaubon, former TV and radio journalist, shares a message of thanks from a stranger through a post. A person who saved your life, a woman who gave you a compliment when you were young when you lacked self-confidence. All these memories, received by message, Anne Cazaubon puts them center stage, to extract these little positive moments from everyday life, very often marked by sometimes worrying and anxiety-provoking news. A way to unite and bring a moment of lightness, without harming others.
Planet spoke with Anne Cazaubon, who wears multiple hats: author, speaker, coach, but also artist. Her extensive work revolves around what she calls “sweet art”, an art that allows us to unite and “gather around common values, without polluting”, including her Instagram account, Thanks to a stranger, is an integral part of it. A page marked by positivity, fully assumed by the author: “I was always told that good news interests no one” (…) “Today, however, the journalism of solutions and positive information expands”.
However, many of us need all these positive announcements and messages. Anne Cazaubon understood this very well via this Instagram account, which is in reality “a movement, even a major media outlet”. But, out of the question for the author to hide her face from the world around us: “The idea is not to spread a message from Care Bears, and to say the world is magnificent. That is not true However, the world is nuanced, with its share of horror and its share of humanity. The objective of the account: to counterbalance the sometimes anxiety-provoking news of daily life in an attempt to find a balance. But, as you will see, thanks to a stranger a particularly poignant story.
The Thanks to a Stranger account was created on the first day of confinement in March 2021. A period when the need for interaction and comforting words was particularly felt, with the imposed possibility of remembering one’s deepest positive memories. Quickly, under a snowball effect, the account evolves. As her first post, Anne Cazaubon decided to post her own Thank You to a stranger: “To you who stayed near me on this metro platform, feeling that I was going to do something stupid, years ago… To you who let a certain number of oars pass to make sure I was okay To you who with a simple look showed me that the game was worth it, my infinite gratitude Thanks to both of us. I’m alive.”
Anne Cazaubon thus, during her youth, escaped a suicide attempt thanks to a stranger, explaining this relationship that she maintains today with all these shadowy people, whom she describes as “a guardian angel disguised as a incognito god. A way of reminding us that our smallest actions, the slightest selfless intention, can save lives, and positively mark individuals for the rest of their lives.
These elements refer, moreover, to the impact that everyone wishes to leave on the world: “how would I like, the day I disappear from this earth, that people talk about me, how I could work in my own way. After the success of her Instagram account, Anne Cazaubon wants to go further, by integrating her positive commitment from the social network Instagram, into real life.
Anne Cazaubon wants to think bigger for the future. If his Instagram account performs beyond his expectations, his goal is in the real world, “far from the internet bubble”. The former journalist wishes, in fact, to install “huge posters in public transport, on highways, in schools or even in hospitals”, to “infuse these small gestures” of everyday life almost everywhere with positivity. our environment. She is currently focusing her energy on finding major broadcasters, with whom she would like to form partnerships allowing “all these positive messages to travel as far as possible”.
Finally, it wishes to perpetuate its activity by entering into a more virtuous economic model, allowing it to put into action all its societal positivity projects. Thank you to a stranger with association status, anyone who can make a donation to try to spread positivity throughout our environment. Furthermore, you can submit your “Thank you to a stranger” via this link.