How awesome would this be as your first car?!

This of the UNLIMITED possibilities… haha!
TOTALLY AWESOME DUDE!

and actually, i’ve always wanted an old mini as my first car (:

*BEEP* *BEEP* … or whatever…

Hey guys,
I want to talk about something that’s really important and will probably effect each and everyone one of us… It’s achieving your goals.

It sounds easy doesn’t it? You have a dream and you try to achieve it… but many of you probably already know that it isn’t that easy, right? There’s barriers in everything you do, whether big or small; you CAN overcome them. The biggest barrier you’ll ever face is right in front of you, they’re around you all the time, they’re people.

People are the biggest barrier you’ll ever face, their opinions can really influence the things that you do and more often than not, they’ll stop you from doing something that you really believe in. When I first launched Ditch the Label last summer, I had so much criticism; people were telling me that it was a stupid idea and that it’ll never work; a year later, I stand to say that the campaign has over 15000 followers, has been featured on countless websites, in magazines and on a BBC radio station; to me, that’s successful, but it wasn’t easy.

When I first started college, I found it really difficult to settle in because everybody already knew who I was; people were constantly talking about me and

Ahhh-uhhh!
We’re giving away 500 @DitchtheLabel.org e-mail accounts; you can use it to send and receive e-mails and also for ‘MSN Messenger’!

Grab an account quickkkk… before they’re all gone =(

Psttt. DiageoLiam@DitchtheLabel.org!

Seriously… how FIERCE was the launch of Ditch the Label Version 2.0!?
If you weren’t here to view it, we basically had a countdown until the launch; along with some amazing background music from ‘The Prodigy’ and as soon as the countdown reached zero, the entire site was redirected to Version 2.0 and the countdown page was immediately deleted!

So, yeah… I’d just like to thank EVERYBODY for making this happen for me! I’ve only just started…

WATCH THIS SPACE! (literally, there’s more blogs soon!)

Above: The main section of the countdown page!

At long last, the Ditch the Label Blog is here!

We’ve decided to up our notches a little, with the typical ‘Web 2.0′ accessory… a blog! Here, we’ll be publishing daily discussions and debates with some of todays most mainstream issues. Or whatever.

Check back daily for some groovy updates! Including articles, poems, stories and gossip!

If you’re interested on grabbing your hands on part of Ditch the Label history (along with a bit of DiageoLiam), enter our competition HERE! Also, if you like freebies and giveaways, check out this link!

Ditch the Label Launch Vid

PS. Drop us a blog comment and let us know what you think of the new updates!

Bring on Version 2.0!

“Walking around busy towns and other busy places, I can’t help but notice the contrasts in appearances; not two people look alike (unless they are twins) but many people share similar features; for example, lots of people have brown eyes and dark hair and lots of people have blue eyes and blonde hair but every single person has at least 1 beautiful thing about them. For some, they may have long and shiny hair, for others they may have good bone structure, perhaps a proportionate figure.

With the increase in technology, people are being perceived as having all of these beautiful things so that an audience automatically feels uncomfortable with themselves and thus, decide to buy the product that the model is advertising - and what exactly is the point in advertising? To sell products!

So to clarify that, companies employ models to advertise their products and then use computers to change and enhance their appearance; don’t believe how easy it is? This modification took me 2 minutes:

Obviously, it isn’t really common to have blue lips and extremely pale skin but if the product was a magic cream that turned your skin paler and gave you blue lips, if you saw the second picture… you’d believe it right?
(You may also notice that the spot on my left shoulder has been blanked out in the second picture)

So where does this tie in with appearances? I think that this concept of ‘beauty’ has become far too commercialised and corrupt; everybody is beautiful in their own way.
We should start to accept ourselves for what we look like rather than what we ’should’ look like according to these computer generated pictures.

So next time you look in the mirror, stop looking at the bad things and start looking at the good.

Just because you’re not a size 0, doesn’t mean you don’t look after yourself and just because you are a size 0, doesn’t mean you have an eating disorder and crave attention!

We should all stop looking at others and then instantly basing a permanent judgement on them; just because somebody wears a skirt, does this make them a slut? Or does it just mean that they wanted to wear a skirt? How about the guy that has spots, does this mean that he isn’t hygienic or simply is it because his hormone levels aren’t balanced? How about the girl that sits behind you, she always wears black - does this mean that she is a self-harmer and worships the devil or simply does she like the colour black? How about the guy that sits next to her, the one that wears designer clothes and tracksuits; will he have children before his 13th birthday or does he simply like the clothes?

We all look different, simply because we’re all different people.”

This article was written by DiageoLiam, the founder of Ditch the Label.
If you need any more help or advice regarding sexuality then you can post on our forum or click here for useful phone numbers and contacts.

“Firstly, I think we all need to realise that YOUR sexuality shouldn’t be a big deal to anybody else but yourself; unfortunately, we all know that this isn’t the case… but why? Why are people so involved with the sexual identity of you? What’s the big deal? So what if you date boys, so what if you date girls and so what if you don’t date anybody… just so long as it feels right in your heart, not your head.

Your brain can be influenced by the opinions of people around you, but your heart and your emotions can’t. You can consciously change your thoughts but your feelings develop by themselves and you should allow them to do that.

Growing up, our feelings may sometimes feel quite distorted and unsure of themselves; this is when the majority of young people begin to question their sexual identity; do they like boys or do they like girls; or even both?! For the majority of people, these feelings can change but for others they stay this way.

Growing up, personally I found it to be probably the most confusing time of my life… at times, my heart was telling me that I was in love with a guy but then my thoughts were telling me that this was wrong, and why? Because I went to a school full of sexually insecure and unaware idiots; whom of which would spend their time hurling abuse at me simply because they thought I was gay. Because of this, I associated being gay with the negative feedback I was receiving from those around me and as my feelings grew stronger my denial went on for longer (poet, obviously). At one point I even tried to take my own life… the bullying was proving to be too much for me… I ended up in hospital after being attacked on two separate occasions and I felt alone.

By this time, I was in my final year of high school and I was starting to come to terms with my sexuality… no matter how much I tried to feel attracted to girls, it wouldn’t work - my heart was screaming for boys and I couldn’t stop it. I felt like I was fighting an impossible battle… after all, nature ALWAYS gets her own way.

Towards the end of the year, I started to tell my closest friends that I was bisexual; feeling that this was a less steeper step. Unfortunately, one of these ‘friends’ couldn’t control his excitement and decided to tell the entire school… Probably the worst thing that ever happened to me. I remember as soon as it came out, everybody was asking me all of these embarrassing questions regarding my sexual life… I didn’t know what to say, I felt embarrassed and down-graded - it was like they were using my sexuality as a form of entertainment but why?

School was proving to be really difficult for me and I had to tell somebody that was able to help me, so I came out to my mum; probably the closest person to me… When I told her she initially appeared shocked but then told me she loves me no matter what and eventually came to grips with it. She has inspired my attitude towards sexuality and I’m thankful of that. After many long conversations with her, I decided that my sexuality wasn’t this BIG deal; so what, I like boys rather than girls? What’s the problem…?

With my new attitude towards the subject, I decided to confront some of the bullies and ask them why they try and hurt me; one of them said he didn’t know, apologised and then never spoken to me again.

My feelings were starting to overrule my thoughts and leaving school I felt proud of who I am and I couldn’t really care less what those around me thought.

About a month after leaving school, I found out that a friend of a friend had killed himself shortly after coming out as being gay… he was my age and I couldn’t help but think of how I could have helped him if I knew him… This was my inspiration for Ditch the Label - I wanted to help people that were in a similar situation that I was in… I wanted to change the world with my beliefs… Okay, that may sound a little dramatic but in less than 3 months I have influenced over 30,000 people…

I seriously wish that people would GET OVER the fact that EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT.
We all have different appearances, different races, different personalities, different sexual identities and even different colours; but each of these do not dominate our personalities. I’m gay, and that doesn’t mean that I’m a flamboyant dancer with HIV nor does it mean I have to be… I’m done with stereotypes and I’m done with people trying to fit into a category.

You are your own personality. Your own category. Don’t be a sheep, come break away from molds with me.

Anyway, back onto the topic of sexuality and ‘coming out’, firstly, where are you ‘coming out’ from? Is there an underground place where all the undiscovered homosexuals hide? You don’t ‘come out’ from anything… It’s not like you can suddenly change your personality.

Sure, if you want those around you to know about your sexuality, that’s totally fine; but you don’t need to throw it into their faces. I’m forever seeing people introducing themselves as being “16 and bisexual” or “14 and lesbian” etc. SO WHAT?! That’s like me introducing myself as being “17 with brown eyes”; is the “brown eyes” statement really that relevant? Not at all.

Obviously, your sexuality is important when you’re dating people; but only so that you find the right person.

If you do decide to disclose your sexual identity, there’s a few things that you should consider:
1. Are you comfortable with it yet? I.e. are you certain of your feelings? It’s proven that 99% of people have sexual feelings about a member of the same sex at least once in their lifetime - this doesn’t make them homosexual!
2. Are you disclosing it for the right reasons?
3. Do you understand that it isn’t a big deal to anyone else but yourself?
4. Are you sure that the people around you are mature enough to accept it?
5. Do you even want people to know?
6. Are you prepared for different reactions from people?

If you’re certain that you’re ready to disclose your sexuality, then it’s really important that you don’t treat it like a big deal; if you do, then it’s likely that people around you will do so too. Remember, it’s just like saying you have “brown eyes”, would you introduce yourself as being “17 with brown eyes” or “17 and being gay”? No? Well remember this.

You also need to be prepared to stand up for what you believe in… If I didn’t stand up for my sexuality, it’s likely that I’d still be where I was in high school. Instead, I’m at college and it isn’t even an issue; again, the “brown eye theory”. But sometimes, I do encounter the odd homophobic person, but I stand up to them - click here for an example; this guy, or girl was attempting to slate Ditch the Label simply because I’m a gay man and he wasn’t happy with that - check out the comments he received (be aware that some comments may offend users and this was actually a genuine blog made by a genuine guy - it just so happens to be a great example of how people should defend themselves)

Now that your attitude towards sexuality is a right one, you should only tell the people that you want to know - i.e. don’t be posting any bulletins on Myspace entitled “I’M GAY/LESBIAN/BISEXUAL” again, I have brown eyes.

It can be difficult accepting who you are, but as I previously said - your feelings are cause by NATURE and nature always wins.
Just always remember that NOTHING can change your sexuality, no matter how hard you try; so it’s time we all learned to deal with it and stop treating it as being a massive issue, because it isn’t.

I know that my sexuality is only 1% of me and it doesn’t affect my personality in the slightest because my personality is WHO I AM - each and every personality is different. As clich

There are currently 198 different emoticons on the Ditch the Label Forum and most of these appear to be animals of some sort!

Baaaaaaah!!