Not every pause is a retreat. Sometimes stepping back is what keeps the whole thing running, in the same way that maintenance keeps a machine from breaking rather than admitting it has failed. The confusion comes from treating any interruption of effort as a moral event. Stopping to repair and stopping because you have given up look similar from outside and are completely different from within.

When you next feel the need to stop, ask what you would be stopping for. If the honest answer is recovery, name it as such and set a return point. Naming it removes most of the guilt that would otherwise follow you through the break.