I'm not very good at explaining those hardcore node details, but when it comes to transactions queuing in the mempool during congestion, I've really been educated a few times... The moment you send it out doesn't count as "settled," it's more like taking a number: if you set the gas conservatively, it just keeps pushing to the back, during which the price slides away, or someone else cuts in line (by increasing the price to replace it), and you can only watch the pending status in a daze. The most frustrating part is that emotions tend to ferment along with the queue: the more congested, the more you want to add more gas, the more you want immediate confirmation.

Recently, everyone has been talking about staking unlocks, token unlock schedules, and the selling pressure anxiety. I instead remind myself more: don't use market orders to blindly rush during these nodes. My simple rule is: either place the order in advance or set good slippage and timeout; if it can't be confirmed, cancel it. Better to miss out than to be dragged along by congestion and anxiety. The blockchain is like a mirror, reflecting mostly our own impatience.