Pausing isn’t quitting. Pausing is what people who plan to come back do.

Stopping for a while and stopping for good look identical from outside on day one, and the difference is entirely in the intention. A pause has a return in it. What makes people afraid to rest is the suspicion that they will not come back, and that suspicion is usually louder than the evidence.

Give the pause a shape if you need one. A date, a condition, a note about what you are resting from and what you plan to return to. Then actually rest, rather than hovering. Guarding a break so anxiously that you get none of it is the worst version of both options.