We often think of complacency as a lack of any motivation, but can’t it also be seen as a kind of motivation to avoid potentially traumatic entanglements?

This is very much the case. When people feel inner doubts and have great inner fear about what can happen if they put themselves at risk, there will be great motivation to avoid stepping forward, taking action that could result in failure and end in humiliation, disappointment, and further self-judgment. People underestimate the ability they have to punish themselves and cause quite severe damage to their own makeup and chances of having a successful and happy life. The deep subconscious will do almost anything to avoid being condemned by the conscious mind presiding over everything that happens, and seeing any perceived failure as an indictment of their own worth and the harsh self-criticism will be a quite heavy burden for the deep subconscious to bear. Here again, is ample motivation to avoid responsibility, to avoid making decisions, planning, taking steps to move forward and put one’s self on the line, so to speak, where there might be failure as an end result. Complacency will protect the individual from the savagery of self-condemnation, but at the penalty of a kind of imprisonment that will prevent forward progress, and this can become a life sentence to have as a legacy a series of missed opportunities, lack of momentum, and a failure to accomplish the life mission altogether.