Having an alcoholic mind is like driving a car with wheels that are out of alignment.
If you just hold the steering wheel normally, without making any effort to compensate for the misalignment, the car begins to drift sideways... potentially into oncoming traffic. You have to apply a little ongoing, consistent effort against the drift to keep the car moving forward in a straight line, safely in the middle of the lane.
The same is true of the alcoholic mind -- it also needs a little ongoing, consistent effort applied against the pull of alcoholism in our thinking, or it too will drift... also potentially into oncoming traffic.