I just watched the mempool for a while and it felt like waiting in line at a convenience store… You think clicking "submit" is the end, but actually you’ve just entered the waiting hall. When there are many people, miners/packagers will prioritize transactions with higher fees or more convenient options, so your transaction might get stuck or even be pushed to the back by others with higher fees; even changing the fee (speed up/cancel) requires waiting in line, sometimes you have to pay a fee just to withdraw.

Recently, after the cross-chain bridge was hacked or oracles reported errors, everyone was shouting "wait for confirmation," and I actually understand: this on-chain mechanism is more human-like when it’s a bit slower. The lesson here is probably not to take "not executing immediately" as the market targeting you… When congestion happens, I simply lower my expectations, take a nap, and see whether it gets through or gets rejected later, for now that’s enough.