how hard is it to tell someone you are serious about them?

i must say that its really difficult to show how serious we are about our feelings towards other people. especially when we experience such, and we're afraid to repeat the history. maybe, try to make friend with the person you seriously fall with and try to ask certain situations and assess. then if you're sure about it, try to verbalize your message through actions... as they say, actions speak louder than voice...