This will be a very long post, you don't have to read it if you don't want to, just me getting it all out. The past year had been a very difficult year for me. My best friend and I seemingly started to grow apart a bit, and random boundaries were set up that made no sense, and neither of us like expressing things that bother us when it comes to each other so internalized anger would build up constantly, resulting in spiraling and thinking he either hated me and I was pushing him away, or that I was a horrible friend. Keeping count, I think I blew up at him/cut him off 5 or 6 times, each time becoming bigger and worse than the previous one.

He knew I had these issues but the way he acted was in no way helpful at all and only continued to fuel my paranoia. Randomly he'd hide basic things like what project he was working on (we usually consult each other on stuff to see what one another thinks), and act elusive about many mundane things in an effort to seem "enigmatic". 

Fast forward to the last time things started to escalate, it was the beginning of July, and I was talking about some technical stuff and issues with it. He started being seemingly condescending and suggesting that it was my fault (which in the end it wasn't) that something wasn't functioning as it was supposed to, and I just cut the conversation short. To me, I was just ending the conversation. To him, he was angry and expecting an apology (which I didn't know about at the time).

After a week and a half of silent treatment and one worded texts back, I confronted him asking why he was being like this and he snapped back asking if I ever tried self reflection. After a few more days of silence I decided enough was enough and cut all ties, as I couldn't take it anymore and felt like I did something wrong but him not telling me only made things worse. He said it was very telling that none of what I said was true or worth responding to, implying that I was a narcissistic psychopath. In the past, it was always me who would come back to him apologizing for spiraling the way I did, but this time I stuck to it and ignored him altogether. After a few weeks realizing that I sincerely ended everything with him he tried to call me a shit friend, and we got into another argument until we eventually cleared up all miscommunications and stupid boundaries that were being set up.

Since then, things have been much better, and I haven't had much of a spiral. I've learned to give him better space, and in turn he's stopped being that way as he never realized he was acting that way in the first place. It's also been easier to bring things up. For those that bothered to read all this, I guess the moral of the story is talk through things, or else they'll continue to get worse. Every friendship and relationship is dependent on communication and respect. If you don't manage through issues and instead step around them, they'll only get bigger and worse.