Hey! I've been in a kinda similar situation! Sorry this post is really really long! I suck at shortening things up!
The main reasons why he decided to break up with me, was that he felt he lost his feelings for me and felt trapped in the relationship. I was in disbelief because the way he was acting showed that he did have feelings. I would beg for another chance. I feel really pathetic about doing that now.. I realized that by doing so, it made him want to back away even more, adding to that trapped feeling and I don't think it was worth fighting over someone who feels he wants to let go. He felt he needed the freedom and time to himself but by doing that, I wasn't giving him what he needed/wanted. I was scared that if I gave up, that he would find someone else. I gave him some time to think about things, tried to talk to him about it again and his decision didn't change. I don't think there is a certain set amount of time it takes for someone to take a break to think about things, it's all up to their own pace. I let him go for good at this point. It was pretty hard, I would be crying non-stop.
He told me he still cared about me so he would want to keep in touch with me. During the early break up days, I would think this is the right thing to do and didn't want to stop talking to him. I realized as time went by, that I wasn't getting over him due to having constant contact with him. I started to talk to him less and less. That is when I started to recover and I no longer felt the need to keep talking to him. I would recommend doing this, taking time away from your bf to give you some time to recover as well.
Around a year after the break up, I decided to take a trip to the country he lives again. Not to see him but I had other reasons to do so. I asked someone I knew, who also lived in the same country, if I could possibly stay with him during the long duration of my trip but I was kinda scared to as I don't know him all too well. My bf knew about it (he knows the guy and doesn't trust him) and kept telling me to stay at his home along with his family. I at first refused to back down as I knew my feelings would grow for him again and I didn't want to get hurt again. I made my final decision to stay with my bf, when the guy whom I asked to stay at his place, would keep showing signs of having other intentions.
During the time I spent with my bf, I ofc grew strong feelings again. I had no intentions of getting back together with him though. He brought it up to me first that he wants to get back together. Tbh I never thought I would hear those words from him as he was so intent on never getting back together. He realized that all the things he thought was dragging him down during our relationship, wasn't actually doing so. He also realized how much he actually loved me and was 100% sure of it this time. I was extremely hesitant. Part of me was wanting to get back with him, while another was scared to do it. I decided to wait it out and see how my time with him goes before giving him an answer. He proved that he has changed and I decided to give it another go, but with my foot at the door incase it didn't go well. We have been going strong ever since. This relationship now, feels like a whole new one, different than our past relationship.
I wanted to say a couple of things as advice. These are things I wish I did differently.
I did the same as you, looking through posts of people who have gotten back together after breaking up while in a ldr. I wanted to hang onto any hope of him and i getting back together. It gave me false hope in the beginning. Sometimes would make me feel worse when I see people saying they haven't gotten back together. Yes, my bf and I got back together but it was something I wasn't thinking would happen again (after I lost all hope) and it was less hurtful once I dropped that hope as I wasn't expecting anything. I think it is more hurtful having him not get back together with you after having the high hopes/expectations that he will do so, than if you drop any expectations and hopes. I would advise against looking at posts that might give you false hope, as it may only hurt you more in the long run and make it harder to recover. It took a whole year after breaking up before my bf and I got back together. I believe that if things are meant to be, it'll happen, even if it's not until years later.
I would reach out to my bf, but this in the end, would push him away more as he needed time to himself. I think it is best for you to refrain from any contact that has to do with the relationship. I've mention this above, but everyone has their own pace on how long it takes for them to take a break and think things out, so reaching out in even a couple of weeks might not be enough time for him. It also gives you time to recover if he decides to not get back with you. If you are always there, it doesn't give him a chance to really "miss you" and realize if he really wants to go through with the breakup. I was constantly talking to my bf early on after the breakup, because of this he knew he broke up with me but didn't entirely feel like it because I kept talking to him just like I did during the relationship. They also need time to live their life while not in a relationship to realize things. I do think your bf still cares about you and wonders how you are doing but probably feels it's best to reduce contact.
It is never good to frequently fight in a relationship, but the things I noticed in couples that never, and i mean NEVER fight or disagree on something in a relationship, is that someone is either bottling something up, they haven't fully got to know each as they think they have, or someones hiding something. They also have a harder time trying to figure out how to solve the problem as they have never been through anything like that before. In the case with your bf and mine, they were bottling it up. They don't say a word about how they feel until the bottle is filled up high. They don't feel this way out of the blue, it is something that would cross their minds until it finally makes it way out. Now I make sure to ask him here and there if anything is bothering him that we need to talk about. He has gotten better at expressing himself. I would suggest this for you too if it works out for you!
Real life temptations can also happen that makes them feel that way. The unfortunate part of living far away, ofc it can happen in close distance relationships but I feel they might feel less confused about their feelings and less tempted when close to their significant other. My bf felt this way, he would see lots of beautiful women around town and this added to him feeling trapped as he felt he had lost his feelings for me as well. After he broke up with me, during that year after, he realized that he doesn't want other women. I think this is another reason why time to themselves and for them to live their own lives is important. If we kept continuing the relationship by him giving me another chance directly after he broke up with me, it would continue that cycle of him feeling that way, never gives him a chance to have time to himself to figure it all out. This in turn would've cause bigger problems for the relationship in the future.
Girl I'm so sorry about the extremely long post! I wanted to mention my experience and give advice but it got way to long! I honestly feel like there is stuff I am missing but i will post this for now.