Do you ever get that feeling: even though I clicked send, the transaction on the chain seems to deliberately ignore it... When there's congestion, transactions first go into the mempool queue, similar to traffic jams on mountain roads. Miners/validators prioritize those who pay more "gas fees," so if you pay less, you're stuck in the back, waiting, and after a while, your transaction might expire or get canceled and resubmitted, making the fee completely wasted.

I usually don't chase hot topics these days; I prefer slower confirmations rather than getting excited and overbidding. Recently, the NFT royalty debate has been heated, and it's actually quite similar to the mempool: everyone wants faster transactions and better liquidity, but who pays the bill and who gets pushed to the end of the line... Anyway, I just see it as adding fuel to the fire—taking it slow and avoiding a blow-up.