A birthday can be meaningful without explaining what the next year must accomplish.

Birthdays have quietly become appraisals. The question of what you are going to do with this year turns a day about being glad someone exists into a moment of accounting, and the person at the centre ends up either defending their plans or inventing some. Being here another year is the actual occasion.

At the next one, ask about something other than goals. What they enjoyed, who they saw, what they would like to eat. If it is your own birthday and the question comes, you are allowed to say that you have no announcement and would rather have the cake.