Maybe "culturally recognize" would be more accurate. Marriage is simply the final step of cultural recognition for a romantic relationship, which should never turn love into anything lesser.

Society could do to treat love differently, and romance isn't for everyone, but it is culturally important.

I would say it isn't marriage that has ruined love, but societal forces that have ruined both.
Marriage itself is only a cultural institution to culturally formalize romantic love. It's the likes of the wedding industry and divorce courts that try to make marriage a contract, and love too by proxy.

Too many people are far too dismissive when it comes to things such as suicide and depression, even though that dismissiveness does a lot of harm.

If people were as dismissive of physical health as some are of mental health, we'd be told to just walk off a broken leg or try to hide a gaping wound.

I hug my frens whenever I see them, and somewhere around half of 'em are changelings. For instance, there's you!
*hug*

I crave physical affection like you wouldn't believe
I wanna hug and snug all my friends all the time

I feel that too, but I also worry about underdoing it, so I either cling to my friends and hope I'm not too much or I just don't poke them and hope they poke me instead.
We're all social creatures who literally need connection in our lives, and friends often understand being needy or overwhelmed ^c^

As a tangent, I find myself quite fond of the idea that love and intimacy don't need to mean a romantic or sexual relationship. I have lots of love and affection to give and want very emotionally close friends, but being (double?)-demi(?) I want my romantic commitments to be on an even higher level.

But you *are* a great creature! None of us are perfect, but none of us have to be.
If you feel like you've been a bad friend, you should talk to those friends about it to let them know and let them help you. After all, what are friends for?

Happy Birthday!