I think it might just be a different experience.
I, for one, believe that sorrow makes us appreciate the joys more.
A brief story…
In college my grandmother died. I was devastated. While reviewing my decling scores, a kindly college prof shared w/ me that his son had been killed by a drunk driver. He said he had been sad, devastated.
He further shared that he had come to believe that our souls start out as a solid sphere. Each sadness or tragedy that occurs takes a piece of our soul thus leaving a divet (like the depressions on golf balls) on the sphere.
When we experience joy….tears of joy rain on the sphere. If we did not have the divets, we would not have the capacity to capture or embrace the joy as much as the soul of one who has experienced adversity or despair.
I have always thought that was really fantastic.