To be honest we can't tell you what to do, you have to decide yourself what to do. I get he is your friend, but if you don't want him around due to his immaturity then get rid of him.

Drop the hatchet.

Some people need to learn the hard way in life that they can't depend on others to not only validated their existence, but also give them hope. If he had a two year head start, is that immature, and he depends on you for meaning in life. . . you need to let him go.

It can hurt to lose friends, and honestly, I've had "friends" hate me for the strangest of reasons. I just let bad friends go, and make less of an effort to speak to them. This topic genuinely upsets me because I want the best for everyone, but I know it's not reality.

People have to learn the hard way. Real life is often the best educator. That having been said, I don't think that you need to just completely let him go, but I would limit the time that you are willing to spend with him. If he's taking up your time. . . or ruining your mentality, then cut back the amount of time that you spend with him, and don't let him be clingy. He will eventually get the message and realize his life is a wreck. I know it's hard to give people what they deserve, but nothing is worse than hanging in a twisted limbo that isn't good in the long run for either of you. That's what I recommend. I'll wish you the best of luck.

Sword legion :
Yeah you're definitely right.  On top of this, I've been taking space from him, trying to let him get the hint that he needs to stop clinging to me so much, yet it isn't working.  He's actually kept trying to get closer to me since I've been taking space.

I guess my best bet really is to just tell him straight up.  I don't really want to do that, but if I don't I will remain in a "twisted limbo."  

I guess I'm so conflicted with this whole thing is because I hate losing friends, and he's one of my oldest friends.  But honestly, it's grown so toxic that I don't know why I've even held on this long.

Your friend sounds like Chip Douglas from the movie Cable Guy LOL!

If you can't seem to get rid of him by having a talk then you may need a restraining order. Cutting off all communication doesn't really work in this case because then he will start showing up to your house or work and that could make things even worse.

JigSaw :

That's exactly why I've been trying to figure out what to do.  Because for one, I don't want him randomly showing up at my home.  And as far as work is concerned, I would probably freak out if he showed up to my job, because I just scored a new job and don't want to mess it up within less than a week of having it.

I'm going to have a talk with him soon.  And if it fails, I guess I'll take further action.

If your best friend is having a hard time, you don't leave em, you help em. I think if you trying to end the relationship, he'll get worse, and that's not whaf friends do, you can't just leave your friend in a 'sensitive' state, you help em to get outta that state, and possibly, kinda get your stuff together. I know im 16 yrs old and didn't know enough about life yet, but i know, leaving a best friend is a big no no

skrt-lord : I hear you loud and clear.  But I've been trying to help him for years.  I've put a lot patience and sacrifices into trying to help him as much as possible, yet nothing is changing because he has no desire to help himself, even though he knows about how things have been affecting the friendship since I've already talked to him multiple times about it.

I would never leave a friend because they're having a hard time.  The reason I'm considering cutting off from him though is because I've stressed all my energy trying to help him through it, and he's just been causing me a very hard time.  And I'm at a point in my life where I literally cannot have that.

Welp, if thats the case, i feel like he's the one that trying to lure you away, like, i've been in a handful of relationship and usually, if i want to end it, I intended to act like a d*ck just to make her feel uncomfortable and probs breaking me up cause im that guy who's afraid to ask about break up and stuff lol, so, i assume he's tryna break the relationship with you as well, and the best is probably to end it as well.
Me personally, I'll say that i know that we've been friends for a pretty long time but this relationship has been holding me down for a while now and the best way is to end it, i mean we still can be friends, i just don't want to make you feel so attached to me, so yeah, thats that

Ouch, sorry to hear about your current situation. I don't know much about the situation in detail, but the best advice I can give is to either talk about it with him or just to let it go somehow. If I were you, I would talk about it with him. It sounds to me that something is going on or has happened in his life that is preventing him from changing his ways. Either that, or it's a possible mental disability. I have no idea. But unless you want things to stay the same between you too forever, I would talk about it with him. It may be hard to do, and it may be awkward, but talking things through can solve a lot of problems with a lot of people. Talking is an effective communication skill, so we might as well use it to our best potential, right?

Lexatom : Well the situation has been... well, I don't really want to say "resolved" but I guess, "concluded"? I parted my ways with him. And I apologize for the income wall of text.

It really hurt me to do it but there was something that was essentially a nail in the coffin.

Back in November, we had a discussion about this whole situation. And basically, what I explained to him was that I was getting really stressed out with a lot of things and that I needed some space just to get things under control, because the way he was acting was adding to my stress, and I'm very bad at stress management. Now, on top of this, he himself said that he was going to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist because he felt that something was wrong with him and he wanted help. I didn't tell him to do that. That was his choice. He agreed to give me space for a while so I could think on things and work on things and so he could start planning the appointments, but he never gave me the space, and somehow got clingier, trying to contact me all the time and following me around if we were in the same public place or such. He also never tried to get an appointment. Also, I told him during the talk that since I'd be busy with post-graduation from college along with my new full time job, I wouldn't respond all the time like I used to. So whether or not I wanted space, I couldn't always be there to talk to him.

Despite all this, he took me not immediately replying to him or talking to him a ton as me avoiding him, and he started going around behind my back, asking my friends if I was avoiding him or if I didn't like him, basically trying to see if I was telling other people things that he didn't know. While it varies from person to person, people going behind my back really hurts me. I never told anything about him to my other personal friends, and the fact he'd assume so was really hurtful. I understand that he got paranoid, but I reassured him during our talk in November that I just needed some space and wasn't leaving him. I was giving him a ton of chances because even though my mind was telling me that I shold move on from him, I didn't want to because I valued him as a friend.

So in the end, I parted ways with him. I'm not proud of my choice at all. But I feel like it'll help me in the long run. Who knows. Maybe we'll be apart, work on our problems (because I know I have plenty) and the cross paths again later. Only time will tell.

Local Mods : Could somebody please close this thread? The situation that caused me to make this thread has been resolved so I don't see a need to keep this thread active anymore.

Thank you very much.