Consistency means the exception does not become the new rule.

Every long effort will have exceptions, and exceptions are fine. The danger is the quiet promotion, where skipping once becomes the way things are done now because nothing objected. Rules erode by precedent rather than by decision, and by the time you notice, the exception has been running the show for weeks.

After you make an exception, mark the return date immediately. Not as punishment, just so the exception has an end. Naming when normal resumes is what keeps it from becoming normal.