We’re back with our Brooklyn Special Effects January Sessions, where we spotlight the artists, musicians, and makers whose passion and creativity charge our borough with its unmatched energy. In the spirit of Dry (or Dryish) January, we caught up with a few of our neighbors to hear how Brooklyn Special Effects helps them stay inspired and do what they love.
Chris Calderon is a photographer and curator/Director of Operations at Dear Friend Books, an independent Brooklyn bookstore renowned for its eclectic collection and community-based pop-up events. He’s deeply invested in the art of storytelling — whether it be from behind the lens or on the page — but he also emphasizes the importance of getting to know your own story. “Knowing yourself is the new cool,” he says, a mantra that has shaped his approach to both his work and well-being.
We sat down with Chris to explore how his decision to embrace moderation in drinking has strengthened his connection to both his body and his mind. By listening more closely to the signals his body sends, he’s found a clearer sense of balance—helping him stay grounded, focused, and equipped to make choices that align with his best self: someone that’s happy in the present, but is also looking forward to tomorrow.
Brooklyn Brewery: Has Dry January left a lasting impact on your relationship with drinking, socially and otherwise? Have you discovered anything about yourself in the process?
Chris Calderon: Most of the time, if everyone’s doing something, even if it’s not in a pressurized situation, you might want to just be part of your friend group or a new crowd that you joined. It’s funny how alcohol has become a big part of that. It raises the question, how do we cultivate our own patience and discipline within ourselves? Personally, I think you cultivate balance by getting to know yourself, getting to know your own threshold, and knowing that just like anything else, it’s not the same as the next person. We all have different thresholds, so I think it’s just about knowing yourself. You can make choices that keep you balanced.
BB: How would you define “knowing yourself”?
CC: I think one discovers themselves based on the environments and practices that they place themselves in. Some are not by choice, like where you were born and where you grew up. But ultimately when you become of age to drink, you have a choice of where you go, where you place yourself, what you engage in. The more life experiences and things you go through, you discover different things about yourself, like how much you can handle.
It’s really just about refining and fine-tuning life; seeing how you react to the environments you’re in, around the people you are around, around the relationships you’re in and what kind of feelings they give you. Do they make you more stressed? Do you drink more based upon that?
For me, it’s just about being mindful, and practicing not getting swept up in it. Observing my feelings and taking account of them so I’m not living in stress and anxiety.
BB: Has limiting alcohol in your life changed the way you think about personal well-being?
CC: The cool thing about our bodies is that they know more about us than we do. They always give you a signal of some kind. It gives you a signal when you need to rest. It gives you a signal when you’re about to get sick. It gives you a signal when you’re doing too much, or too little. You get anxious when you’re doing too little, or not enough. You feel exhausted when you’re doing too much, whether it’s mental exhaustion or emotional exhaustion.
Our body is always talking to us. If you just listen not to the crowd, but to yourself — not what you’re thinking, but what you’re feeling, I think you’ll have an answer.
BB: Has your perception of NA beverages changed since you first saw them on the market? Do you think non-alcoholic options are shaping the way we think about the culture around drinking?
CC: They’re much more prevalent, and they taste a lot better. There were way less NA options 10 or 15 years ago, and I would say they had more of a negative connotation.
I think the script has really flipped, now that the culture has shifted toward self-awareness. We’re aware that we’re different from other people, but not so much, just slightly, and that translates to how much we can handle. Now we find it a cool thing for people to make choices based on that. It’s admirable if someone’s making a choice based on how they feel, and they’re sticking to it, rather than making a choice based on how everyone’s going to feel about them.
Knowing yourself is the new cool.
BB: How has cutting back on drinking or incorporating NA beverages helped you learn more about yourself?
CC: It’s helped give a little bit more clarity to who I am, what I care about, what I want to achieve, how I want to do it, and maybe a little bit more time to execute it. I truly think it just keeps me clear, able to do what I say, commit to the things that I want to do, and show up for the people that I want to show up for.
I always say, “I like tomorrow.” I don’t go overboard with anything because I want to do it all over again tomorrow. You know, I’m lucky enough that everything that I engage in and do, I truly love. It gets me up every day and excites me, and I want to do it just as good — if not better — tomorrow.
Follow Chris on Instagram to stay up to date on his latest creative ventures. Looking for more stories from our neighborhood? Check out our interviews with Executive Chef Fariyal Abdullahi, multidisciplinary musician and producer Bryndon Cook, and founder/designer Erin Kelly Meuchner. Plus, drink along with $5 shipping on all Brooklyn Special Effects orders from our Online Store this Dry January.