I'm an all or nothing kind of person (though less so as I get older). When I'm immersed in a project, I don't want to take much leisure time, I want to keep going. So i prefer intense project work without downtime, and then real vacation where there is nothing hanging over me, vs force breaks when there is work to be done. I consider that to be "work life balance" It doesn't have to balance every week, or even every year. I don't know if that model can work for you with the constraints of your job, just something to consider.