One thing to keep in mind, there is a world of difference between very little contact, very limited contact or even very sporadic contact and no contact. Emotionally it is a very different thing to hear, that someone tells you for example that they feel your relationship right now is not good for either of you and they think it is best you are not interacting quite so much right now and please call again when X and till that send a sms every now and then to tell you are alive. Even if that X is something big, like when you have been three months sober, or are in treatment or have found a job and are out of streets is fundamentally different that when that someone calls it quits, tells you they are changing numbers and you are not welcome to contact them any more. It is well possible that also very limited contact leads to very limited contact in future, but no contact is almost guaranteed to leave an ugly, difficult to heal wound to the relationship.
When my difficult child left home situation was so, that we actually needed to impose that he had to keep contact (he was a minor so we had some control over it) and those 'at least 15 minutes, every Sunday' calls home formed a habit, but last winter he did limit a contact to us significantly. He was angry with me over something I kept insisting, and decided he didn't want to talk to us, but he did keep that contact. He called every Sunday, first time told me he was not going to talk with me and just sat there quietly that 15 minutes before hanging up. After that it was couple months even without telling me he wasn't talking to me. We just sat that fifteen minutes quietly listening each other breath (okay, I told him some news from home time to time and told him I loved him when that 15 minutes was about to be up.) But as childish as that was from him, to our relationship it was something totally different than if he would have told he calls it quits with us. I can also imagine, that my all contact to him could be a text once a week: "You are loved. Take care! Mom" But even something that minimal is totally different than no contact emotionally.
And when one contemplates 'no contact' with their loved one, one has to understand, that it really is extremely hurtful to other party. Really hard blow and changes that relationship for good. And one can not assume that they can end the period of 'no contact' when they feel like that and re-establish contact. I have known few people aside of myself who have ended up with 'no contact' with their loved one, and I have both been the one who initiates the no contact period and the one who was ditched. None of the situations I know about has the person who was subjected to 'no contact' been willing to re-establish the contact when the other party has wanted to, not right away at least. When you are ditched like that, you can even only start to consider, if you want that person back to your life, after they start to re-connect with you. And it takes time, often a lot of time, to think it through and decide if that person is worth the hurt they have caused you, if you can handle them back in your life after what feels like awful betrayal, and if they simply are worth the heartache they are suspect to cause you again. In my relationship with my troubled loved one he ditched me first and when he wanted to re-connect it take quite a long time before I was willing to even consider it. So when I later came to the conclusion I had to remove him from my life, I was acutely aware of the hurt I was causing and that I really wouldn't have any automatic option or right to re-established contact if I would one day feel like that. We have to this date gone back and forward between no contact and having a contact. Currently we do have a contact, but those 'no contact'-decisions from both sides hang heavily between us and I doubt we will ever even dare to approach the topic, nor will we ever trust each other after all that hurt and betrayal even though I really love him and he loves me.
When one decides to go to no contact with their loved one, it would be utter foolishness to fantasize that the other party will be waiting, if they ever decide to try to re-connect. They may be, but just as likely they may be totally done with you and not want to have any contact ever again. I'm not saying that 'no contact' wouldn't be a best or only available course of action for some and in some situations, but it does come with a price and don't try to fool yourself in that one. If you are not ready to pay that price, do not go there.