Mandurah teenager Kael McGowan documents his life overhaul and self-discovery on social media

With his TikTok account that had accrued 40,000 followers somehow ending up deleted, he took it as a sign to re-evaluate the ways in which he was using social media.

"I wasn't happy with what I was posting on there or the message it was sending. It was silly things," Kael said.

"When it got deleted I decided to create a new one with the goal of showing you don't have to care what other people think about you - you can be yourself."

Kael's revelation came at a time when he said he really needed it - he was stuck in a job he didn't feel fulfilled in and wasn't sure what he really wanted to do post-high school.

Creating his new Tik Tok account, @thasoulproject, was Kael's chance to hone his creativity, and he said he used it to learn more about himself and what his passions were.

"The new account is about finding yourself, finding who you are and who you want to be - chasing your dreams and not following what other people are doing.

"My message is 'no exaggeration, no BS, just be your own person - the response so far has been massive."

The account has accrued more than 6000 followers in a short time, with clips showing Kael getting out into nature with his friends - viral Mandurah Tik Toker Dylan O'Brien also makes an appearance in a few videos.

Ironically, despite Tik Tok becoming an important outlet for Kael, it was cutting down his screen time which he said helped him to change his life.

"I don't feel the need to post - I post because I want to post and I like sharing my life. There's a lot more to life. Especially teenagers, we wake up, go to school, come back and just sit on phones.

"It can impact your relationships with your parents and people around you. My average screen-time now is only two-and-a-half hours a day. I did a bit of research and the average is around 7-8 hours for 11-18-year-olds."

Kael said keeping track of his screen time forced him to be more social and make new connections - he would take himself on camping trips to areas with no mobile phone service at all to help him disconnect.

"It's hard not to pick up your phone when it's going 'ding, ding' - I think you should give yourself 2-3 days without it sometimes."

Kael said another important element to his new Tik Tok account was building trust and bridging the gaps between the local community and teenagers.

He wanted to help show the side of Mandurah that people sometimes didn't see, and said he was promoting young people having fun in a healthy way.

"Sometimes Mandurah has a really bad stereotype - when I go to clubs in Perth and speak to people you hear things and that's actually a very small percentage of Mandurah which that represents.

"That's what I'm trying to promote. Mandurah is amazing - beautiful beaches, incredible fishing and diving, an estuary where you can go crabbing and surfing..."

Kael's videos show Mandurah's coastline, interacting with ocean life and boating adventures and misadventures both locally and further north.

"I have one video of me holding a flair on the boat out in Exmouth - ran out of fuel, a bit of a rookie mistake," Kael said, laughing.

"That has about 2-3 million views now."

Kael said that changing his life didn't come without sacrifices and hardships, and deciding to make changes resulted in some of his friendships falling apart.

"I dropped many friends over the last six months who have been unhealthy for me. Even if it means you have to be alone for a while - I struggled personally with that, I told myself I didn't want to become what they were making me become.

"You get so stuck in 'oh, I have friends - this is amazing' but you don't realise until someone tells you. I have had lots of help from other friends who made me realise those people were seriously bad for me."

The new and old friends Kael fostered friendships with all loved getting outdoors and being part of his videos - some of them making their own accounts or just being happy to be featured in his content.

"I love media - video editing, filming on the GoPro. My friends love getting involved in the videos and just being themselves," Kael said.

After starting his new journey and growing comfortable within himself, Kael started getting contacted by people who had picked on him in high school wanting to make amends.

He said he learnt a lot about how people can develop and change with his own experience, and held no hard feelings towards anyone in his past.

"I got pretty bullied at school - the stuff I was doing was different. I've had lots of them reach out and say 'hey man, I want to apologise', and I just say 'that's cool, everyone has made mistakes - I've made my own'

"People change themselves a lot - none of that other stuff matters."

Now, Kael said he's in an amazing place - with the power of social media, making meaningful connections and doing more of what he loves making him naturally gravitate towards what is meant for him.

"At the moment I've just started a job as a mineral metallurgy technician - I am absolutely loving it so far - there's never any job that is the same, you never get bored."

He said he liked to look only a few weeks ahead rather than planning the entire future out, and that he wanted to seek out his passions and take every day as it comes.

"I want to be able to still do the things I love and enable myself in the future to have a family and make them comfortable. You want to be able to provide for yourself and your family while still being able to find a healthy balance."

Kael said he would continue to use his Tik Tok to spread positivity and help him share and remember every step of his journey.