I used to be stubborn: I only watch on-chain, and I could pretty much guess who’s ahead in the mempool… but I got educated as soon as congestion hit. When you click send, your transaction is just waiting in line; miners/packagers will prioritize the “more attractive” ones (higher gas fees or bundled with others), your transaction is like holding a regular number in a bank lobby, getting more anxious the longer you wait, and it might get bumped out, expire, or need to be resent.

The most annoying thing is during airdrop season, when task platforms mess up with anti-witching and point systems, everyone’s competing like at work, and suddenly the on-chain traffic explodes. The small operations I have are not complicated at all, but I can still get stuck and start doubting life. Now I admit: just watching on-chain isn’t enough, I also have to consider sentiment and traffic… congestion is basically everyone shouting together. Anyway, when I encounter congestion now, I pause for two minutes first; I’d rather be slow than get caught as fuel. I’m pessimistic on the surface, but secretly I’m starting to think about whether I should add some more.