Long story short, a month ago my wife suddenly filed for divorce in the middle of our last ditch effort to repair things in counseling. Days later, she had a "change of heart", and halted the process by not requesting service. This "change of heart" has always felt like just a delay tactic to build a case against me regarding custody.

Knowing the inevitable, I eventually filed an answer/counter, and she was notified by her attorney. Based on the insanity of what she had in her petition, I was expecting a full on declaration of war, but was instead caught off guard with a lot of sadness, apologies, and pleading to not move forward. She's not a good enough actress to fake it in the manner she did. So now I kind of feel like shit and start second guessing myself. While I believe she was being genuine in the moment, people don't suddenly change who they are... it would only be a matter of days before I'm reminded about what a dishonest, uncompromising, and cruel person she really is.

Any thoughts or tips for getting past the second-thoughts / guilt in these instances, and avoiding getting sucked back into the cycle that always leads to the same place?