A young Aussie wants people to know their job doesn't have to be their "whole personality" after she quit her gig to become a barista. Ellie Kate has been hustling in her industry for nearly a decade after becoming a YouTuber at 14, but she decided to give it all up for the pursuit of happiness and a better work-life balance.

The 22-year-old dropped out of university and became a freelance executive assistant for a social media and marketing company. After close to three years of learning invaluable skills, she launched her own business on the Gold Coast to compete with those she saw on social media who were young and seemingly always succeeding.

Her business was teaching others about social media and writing courses for people who want to tap into that space. But she told Yahoo Finance she felt like she needed to "rush" her career in order to get ahead.

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"Because we consume so much of other people's lives [on social media] and we hear so many amazing success stories, we often feel like there is a rush or there's a timeline or a deadline to achieve whatever it is that you want," she explained.

While she was proud to launch her own brand at such a young age, she was quickly working 12-hour days to make sure her venture stayed afloat.

After a few months, she discovered others around her were able to finish work and enjoy their personal lives.

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"They seemed so stress-free," she told Yahoo Finance. "They come home and get to hang out and they don't have to think about work. I was looking around and realising that there isn't just one way that I can be successful and be happy."

Kate explained how being in her field consumed her "whole identity" and she wanted a change.

So, she paused her business and went to work at a local cafe. But navigating that mentally was a lot for Kate.

"I think that's the biggest thing I had to get over was the fear of other people's judgement," she said. "Of it being perceived that I was going backwards or that I had failed because I tried something and then was no longer doing it."

Her leap of faith has helped her in ways she couldn't predict

The 22-year-old is only a few weeks into being a barista, but she said her whole world had changed.