The ongoing discussion on the European Strategy for Particle Physics, kicked off in 2024 and to be concluded in 2026, will define the plans for European particle physics in the years to come. The process is currently approaching its peak and last month the first set of main input documents were received, all with a single common goal: the future of particle physics research in Europe. A total of 263 (!) documents were submitted by the community, which include a broad variety of topics (accelerators, technologies, physics, detectors and scenarios) from a broad variety of people (countries, institutes, collaborations, groups and individuals). In this colloquium, I will summarise the main conclusions to be taken away for the Nikhef community towards the remaining steps of the process, in particular the Open Symposium next month in Venice.