Walk With Me by the Vltava River

Most exhaustion doesn't come from the demands of the work.

It comes from the constant, invisible effort of defending yourself while you work.

Tightness before speaking. Needing to have the answer instead of staying with the question. Performing confidence that never quite stops. Exhaustion that no amount of sleep fixes.

This isn't stress. It's what happens when pressure on the work becomes pressure on the self.

The Voices

There are four voices running beneath every decision you make under pressure. You already hear them. You just haven't had language for them.

The Stag is you under pressure. Chest tight, mind racing. The Stag carries everything and can't put it down.

The Rat is your defence. Quick, protective, relentless. Don't let them see. Stay strong. Do whatever it takes. The Rat has kept you alive — but it's exhausting you.

The Wren asks the question you haven't asked yourself. Not to give answers, but to create space. What are you defending? What remains when the defence drops?

The River is where the voices become clear. Away from the noise, you can finally hear which one is speaking, what it's protecting, and whether you still need that protection.

The work is learning to hear these voices in real time — in your decisions, your conversations, your body. Not to eliminate the Rat. You need it. But to hear clearly which voice is driving you in any given moment.

When you can hear it, you stop being driven by it.

The Day

A private, full-day immersion by the Vltava River in Prague. One-to-one. 9:00am – 4:30pm.

No group. No slides. No frameworks.

This is the examined life — direct philosophical inquiry of the kind that has been sharpening thinking for millennia.

We examine the exact moments where you tighten: the conversation you're avoiding, the decision you're over-managing, the pattern you feel but can't name. We locate where the defence operates — in your body, in your language, in the gap between what you know and what you do.

We walk along the Vltava when the seeing needs space to settle. We sit in quiet venues when it needs to sharpen. Sometimes we work out together — the body often knows first.

The day is quiet, demanding, and consequential.

What Happens

The Rat gets heard — not fought, not silenced, but recognised. When it's recognised clearly, the grip loosens on its own.

Decisions clean up. Conversations soften. Energy returns. Not because something was fixed. Because something was noticed.

You leave with the River inside you — not as a memory, but as a state you can return to.

Who This Is For

You carry sustained responsibility. You're ambitious, capable, and relied upon. By most measures, you've succeeded.

And something keeps tightening.

You're performing confidence, but you're exhausted. Relationships are strained or quietly thinning. Your head is busy even when nothing is happening.

It's not a breakdown. It's not a loss of drive. It's the strain of an identity carried for a long time without pause.

The people who do this work don't need convincing. They recognise themselves in the Stag the moment they hear it described.

Leaders travel to Prague from Singapore, London, New York, Dubai. Founders. CEOs. They come because something in this language names what they've been carrying — and they know that something has to shift.

"I flew 11 hours to walk with Andrew for one day. It was the most important conversation of my career." — Andy, CEO, Toronto

About Andrew

Andrew Sillitoe is a former international athlete and coach. He spent 17 years working with leaders and athletes before realising most of them weren't tired from the work. They were tired from defending.

He was one of them.

After his father died when he was 16, Andrew learned to be strong by hiding everything that felt weak. By 42, the armour he'd built was crushing him. He moved to Prague, started walking by the Vltava River, and began developing the language of the Stag, the Rat, the Wren, and the River.

He is the author of four books, including Stories from the Vltava River — 52 short dialogues for men who are tired of holding it together.

The Investment

£5,000. The walk + four one-hour online follow-up sessions.

Next Steps

If this resonates, email me: andrew@andrewsillitoe.com

Tell me what you recognise in the Stag. I'll know if this work is right for you.

No sales process. Just an honest exchange.

We'll arrange a brief conversation. If it feels aligned, we'll set a date.

Quiet. Demanding. Consequential.