The turn that doesn't get done

Ever since I began mountain-biking, I have found myself in countless situations where a mental freeze happens inside my head that makes me refuse to turn the handlebar a little bit more to complete a turn and I subsequently get in trouble.

A couple of days ago, that same paralysis got me off the trail and took me over some big boulders that in turn sent me head over the handlebar. I was riding quite slowly and there was no good reason for it to happen.

The result wasn't pretty and I'm still nursing the right limbs of my body. It seems to me that a part of me was saying “you won't be able to turn safely” while in insight, I should have and I would have been better off falling on the inside than missing the turn all together.

Is it just me, or can someone tell me that it's more common than we think (my own suspicion...)?