I have pushed away friends based on my behavior or fear of being rejected by them so I pushed them away first. This was probably based on my bipolar. The "what happened" was that I lost good friends. In some cases I learned that they were hurt that I pushed them away and that they never would have pushed me away. So for me, sometimes the fear of being hurt led me to push someone away who would never have hurt me.

So be careful about pushing people away...while still protecting yourself...because you and your health and well being are still the most important thing.