I tried once to make a small transaction during the busiest time on the chain, thinking "it's just a matter of a few minutes," but ended up queuing in the mempool and questioning my life. It’s probably like this: after you click send, the transaction first gets dumped into a large waiting hall, and miners/packagers prioritize those with higher "bids" to get on the block first. I, with a conservative bid, can only keep waiting; while waiting, I might get jumped by others with higher bids, or even start debating whether to add more fee to speed up, and if I don’t, it’s like standing in the rain, but if I do, I feel a bit reluctant.

That time I didn’t add much fee in the end, just let it slowly process. When it finally confirmed, it wasn’t really satisfying, more like mentally exhausting: turns out congestion isn’t "the network is broken," it’s everyone fighting for the same road. Recently, there’s been talk about rate cut expectations, the dollar index, and risk assets rising and falling together. Basically, when emotions run high, the chain also gets lively, and congestion becomes more like a collective breath. Anyway, now I try to avoid peak times with small positions, only add a bit of fee for urgent transactions, and if it’s not urgent, I just practice patience.