Why do I do this?

Carrie told me I should post about the reasons I am trying to lose weight, exercise and be my best self. I have thought about this several times in the last few months and years....but especially since I started this challenge. I know that one of the first things that comes to my mind is that I am doing this for my kids. My kids have overweight genetics on both sides of the family. Not only that but both grandpas have diabetes. We have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cancer, and who knows what else. The odds are not in our favor. So I want to give my kids the best chance possible of living a healthy, long, and fun life. I actually think that exercise is fun. There are many people who may look at me like I am crazy but I truly enjoy it. Not always, but most of the time. I love to pick up my kids from school on Wednesdays and take them to a nearby mountain to  hike up. I love looking over the scenic mountain top and enjoying the crisp air and knowing that we did something hard TOGETHER.  I love telling them how much I love living in this area where we can drive 2 miles down the road and go on an amazing hike. I love that we are doing the Whiskey Row race together. I love that they are willing to pay for a third of the price because they so badly want to walk/run with grandpa and grandma. I love that Mike bought me a bike a couple of years ago. I am going to start taking the girls on bike roads around the lake just across the street from my house. Clearly exercise is usually not the problem for me. I've enjoyed it for as long as I can remember. I have the energy, the desire and the commitment. I guess the hard part is the eating part. I have become a stress eater, a bored eater, a social eater. A downright emotional eater. I don't want my kids to see that or think that's how they should deal with their emotions. I don't want them to think it's okay to down a bag of potato chips or carton of ice cream or bag of cookies (I've never actually done that but I felt like I wanted to and would've easily forged ahead). I want my kids to feel the stress, acknowledge it, and then turn to healthy outlets of dealing with it. I'm still trying to figure out healthy outlets. Exercise is one of them. I think that is why I enjoy it so much. It releases the feel good hormones and just makes me feel downright good because I accomplished something hard. I love my kids so much and I want to be a good example to them. My 2nd reason for doing this is because when I am turning my bad habits around and making goals and commitments and doing hard things it just makes me feel good and downright happy. And who doesn't want those things in their life? When I start to slide on the eating and exercise I feel like other things in my life start to slide:my house cleaning, my relationships, how I treat my kids/husband. But especially the way that I feel about myself. I'm not a person that is depressed or sad. I am generally happy and try to enjoy life. But there was a time in my life where depression took over. I couldn't eat,drink, sleep, pray, drive, go to school, without feeling a deep and dark weight surrounding me. It overtook me like nothing else I've ever felt. Intense feelings, thoughts and doubts took over my life. I don't normally share these feelings. But I think it's important to realize that one of the reasons I am doing this is because I am emotionally strong and capable of handling hard things that come my way when I am physically strong. I could get all spiritual right now but I'm not. I just know that for me I will always be striving to eat nutritiously and exercise. My physical health is as important as my mental and emotional health. Those are my top reasons I may seem overly obsessed about being healthy and fit.