These days, the blockchain is congested like rush hour again.

Even small transactions have to queue in the mempool, like tossing a paper boat into the ocean waiting for the tide...
Honestly, it's just you submitting "what I want to do," and miners/validators pick whoever offers the most attractive fee first.
Your transaction stays hanging, sometimes pushed further back, and if you're in a hurry, you can only add a little tip to keep it alive.

I thought just setting "fast" would be enough, but then a bunch of people ahead of me started wildly increasing their fees.
My transaction got stuck so long I forgot I even clicked confirm...
Then I realized, the worst part of congestion isn't the high fees, it's the mental state:
You're watching the pending transactions, while the floor price jumps around wildly, and you're afraid to try to grab a bargain because it might fail to go through the next second.

By the way, everyone is arguing again about NFT royalties.
Creators want to earn, secondary markets want liquidity, but when the chain is congested, everyone gets a lesson in transaction fees first—no one should pretend to be above it.
Anyway, I only dare to test the waters in small amounts now, don’t put all your emotions into a single transaction, it’s too exhausting.