It's not darkest before dawn.

I get the idea behind this saying, but I don't understand why it ever caught on as a saying. Haven't you seen the sun rise? The dawn. It's not black and then all of the sudden the sun magically bursts forth with no warning. That is not how the dawn works. As the sun gets closer and closer to the horizon, the sky gets brighter and brighter. Then the sky continues to lighten as the sun slides over the horizon.

This makes sense, yes?  The darkest part of the night is when the sun is nowhere near the horizon.

The phrase doesn’t make sense as a inspirational message either.  It is not accurate.  It implies that when things are bad, they will be Really bad, and then they will magically get better.  That does not work in exactly the same way that the literal meaning of the sentence does not work.  Things do not get better overnight, or in a split second, or in the time it takes the sun to rise.  It takes time.  Things get better.  They do.  But it happens gradually.  Like the dawn. 

So from now on, please, do me a favor.  Do not try to be helpful, and use the phrase, “It’s darkest before the dawn.”  It’s not helpful.  It doesn’t make sense.  And it doesn’t actually help anything.  You can’t make anything better by saying a phrase.  You just gotta be there.  That makes things better, gradually, like the sunrise.