[parroteal]

Could be a psychological thing: Fear of success or fear of rejection/failure.

When you finish something you will probably show it to the world. So now that world will judge your talent/abilities and maybe you don't feel ready for it.

Apparently it's a common thing. I think Pressfield wrote about it in the War of Art. And it was in another book about childhood trauma I read recently, though I can't remember the title.

I could be way off. Just saying it's a possibility.

[lazyasciiart]

So close to completion, the only thing that could make it fail now is you. So you go with a comfortable form of failure: not finishing, instead of finishing and not being satisfied.

[DrNosferatu]

Really curious to know the title of that other book. Would you care to look it up? Thanks!

[parroteal]

Tbh I didn't exactly forget the title but I don't know in which one of the books I read it.

It could be either:

CPTSD - From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker // Trapped in the Mirror by Elan Golomb // Recovery: A Guide for Adult Children of Alcoholics by Bowden (and colleagues) //

Though now that I'm trying hard to remember which one it could have been I'm not even certain it really was one of those. Maybe it was more of an aggregated insight that I gathered from studying the subject. Either way those books can shed a lot of light on unexplainable mental blocks we have.

It's certainly in Pressfields book. He calls it 'resistance' and swears its at its strongest when you're near the finish line. That's a good observation but he doesn't go into why that could be. Those other books offer explanations to connect the dots. At least for me.

[navhc]

Is the book you're thinking of maybe The Body Keeps the Score?

[joshxyz]

yes the street slang for it is premature ejectulation, or more formally known as performance anxiety.