I'm one of those people who doesn't always run to CPAN every time I have a problem that I think someone else may have solved before. But I do agree that CPAN is one of the Best Things About Perl, so, after questioning my motives for a while, here's what I came up with:

1. CPAN is enormous, with much duplication. How do I know which module to choose from a group of similarly-named modules?
2. Sometimes I like the challenge of solving the problem myself.

That's it. Maybe with more experience, I'd start to recognize more author names on CPAN and associate them with quality modules - to help me avoid spending too much time on the bad/old/poorly maintainted ones. That might help me avoid #1 more frequently.
I do tend to avoid modules that have not been updated recently, especially if they have low version numbers.

And - for what I do with Perl - I often have the luxury of playing with the problem on my own for a while. I like this.

Now, I *do* go to CPAN immediately when I know of a specific module that I think will be helpful. I've done this with Text::Template, CGI (of course), LibXML and others. To figure out what module to try, I come here and play with Super Search. But when I have a problem and don't know where to start to find a module, I'd rather try to figure it out myself first.

I'm not "afraid" of using a module. Just sometimes don't know where to start, and other times feel up to a challenge.