The blockchain has been extremely congested these days. Even a small swap feels like waiting in line in the mempool: first broadcast out, nodes receive it individually, but miners/validators still choose transactions based on "who offers the higher fee." If your fee isn't enough, you're stuck, sometimes even forgetting you have an unconfirmed transaction... Anyway, that sense of anxiety feels quite real.

Should I keep increasing the fee to top the queue?
Not really, sometimes it's better to cancel and resend, rather than battling with emotions.

By the way, I just thought of the recent NFT royalty disputes. Everyone says they want liquidity, but when congestion hits, the first to get pushed out are often those unwilling to pay that little extra (including myself). The market, quite simply, works like that—those willing to pay for certainty move first. For now, let's keep observing.