I have long thought the same as the OP about the current release cycle.
In the early days of OS X, updates were on a very fast cycle. 10.1 came about 6 months after 10.0 because 10.0 was such a wreck. Finally, 10.2 settled down to a useable OS and stayed current for a while. Tiger stuck around a LONG time, rode out an architecture transition, and became a wonderfully stable and useable OS. Snow Leopard was the last where we really got that treatment.
As it is now, every version of macOS makes changes to the UI and often deletes features. Right now, even at a deeper level, Apple still seems to be tweaking APFS with every OS release. Unlike HFS+, which was 100% forward and backward compatible from OS 8.1 all the way up to 10.13(yes, I can read a non-encypted HFS+ volume from a recent macOS version in 8.1-it's not the easiest thing in the world from a connectivity standpoint, but as long as you can get them talking it will read) while 10.15 won't read a 10.16 volume.
As it is now, my perception is that it takes 3-4 months to really iron out the kinks in new versions of macOS once they hit general release. Big Sur is still there-there's an update being pushed now(my computer is telling me tonight) that fixes the minor problem of some MBPs not being able to charge their batteries. By the time the release is really polished, the next version is already close at hand if not there.
Yes, you can ride it out on an older version for a while. I tend to only update every 2-3 versions anyway. High Sierra is still a recent high point for me, although Mojave is good also on systems that support it. The problem is now that if you wait out a version, you can feel really "out of place" as you get two OSs worth of UI changes rather than just one. I have...quite a few...computers and always have at least one install of the then-current OS running-or well actually I didn't on Big Sur since I didn't bother to reinstall it after I upgraded the drive in my 2015 MBP-but installing and playing with it is not actually using the OS. Now that I'm on an M1 and have been forced into Big Sur, I'm still a bit lost on some things.
While I'm at it too, I tend to have very specific ways that I set up my computers in terms of how input devices like the trackpad operate(one of my big ones is I don't use natural scrolling-just a hold over from getting into Macs when SL was current and never having a reason to change) plus minor things like my wallpaper. It use to be than an OS update didn't change things like user preferences, and wallpapers also stuck around if you were using something other than the default. Now, every upgrade changes my wallpaper, and Apple seems determined to make me use natural scrolling(I'm waiting for the day it's no longer an option).
Thank goodness on several of my other systems I can still run Mojave and I have yet to encounter anything current that won't work. Mojave lets me keep dashboard, which I use all the time, and also run my 32 bit apps.